![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/hiv-story-01-1024x683.jpg\")
Deborah and her 10-month-old daughter Catherine at the Baylor College of Medicine Children\u2019s Foundation in Lilongwe, Malawi. Deborah is living with HIV and Catherine is on preventive treatment.<\/p>\n\tDeborah and her 10-month-old daughter Catherine at the Baylor College of Medicine Children\u2019s Foundation in Lilongwe, Malawi. Deborah is living with HIV and Catherine is on preventive treatment.<\/p>\n
JOHANNESBURG \u2013 The Global Fund (GF) has only raised $4 billion of its $18 billion budget for the next three years \u2013 so much is riding on its Replenishment Summit in Johannesburg on Friday (21 November) as it seeks the balance to advance progress against HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.<\/p>\n
The United States has been the largest donor to the Global Fund, contributing around one-third of its budget \u2013 but whether it will still contribute generously is an open question, given the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been in almost constant dialogue with the US since the beginning of the year, and we have not received any stop-work order or any sort of notification that the funding will be stopped,\u201d Francoise Vanni, the Fund\u2019s external relations and communications director, told a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are confident that they will pledge to the Replenishment tomorrow,\u201d added Vanni, pointing out that the US and the GF are working closely to roll out the long-acting HIV prevention medicine, lenacapavir<\/a>, in several African countries.<\/p>\n South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK) are co-hosting the Replenishment, but that did not prevent the UK from cutting its contribution by 15%.<\/p>\n The Fund provides 73% of all international financing for TB, 60% for malaria and 24% for HIV.<\/p>\n M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) has described initial pledges as \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d. \u201cGermany and the United Kingdom \u2013 the only major traditional donors to pledge so far \u2013 have both decreased their commitments compared to the last cycle. Specifically, Germany has pledged \u20ac1 billion instead of \u20ac1.3 billion and the UK has pledged \u00a3850 million instead of \u00a31 billion,\u201d MSF noted on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo donor has increased their pledge when considering inflation. If other major donors follow Germany and the UK\u2019s examples, the results would be catastrophic for people impacted by TB, HIV, and malaria worldwide,\u201d MSF said.<\/p>\n \u201cFailure to meet this [$14 billion] goal would risk catastrophic cuts to essential services, threaten the resurgence of HIV<\/a>, TB<\/a>, and malaria<\/a> \u2013 the world\u2019s top three deadliest infectious diseases \u2013 and put the financial burden of health care onto the world\u2019s most vulnerable patients.\u201d<\/p>\n The GF is the world\u2019s largest funder of global health, and it has saved an estimated 70 million lives since its establishment 22 years ago, according to its Results Report 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n Around $103 billion has also been saved in reduced hospitalisations, freeing countries\u2019 health systems to address other diseases and other health needs, Vanni noted.<\/p>\n While it works in over 100 countries, its effect has been felt primarily in Africa, where 73% of its budget has been spent.<\/p>\n In 15 priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa, life expectancy has increased from 49 years old in 2001 to 61 in 2021 \u2013 mostly thanks to people with HIV getting access to antiretroviral medicine. In Zambia, for example, life expectancy has increased by 19 years from 43 to 58 years.<\/p>\n Since the GF was launched in 2002, AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by almost three-quarters in the countries where the Global Fund operates, and new infections have been reduced by 62%.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without these interventions, AIDS deaths would have increased by 90% and new HIV infections by 75% over the same period.<\/p>\n In 2024 alone, Fund-supported TB programmes treated 7.4 million people with TB.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between 2002 and 2023, GF efforts have reduced TB deaths by 40%. Without these, TB deaths would have increased by 134% and TB cases by 40% over the same period.\u00a0<\/p>\n Malaria deaths were reduced by 29% between 2002 and 2023, \u201ceven though the population in these countries has increased by 46%\u201d, the Results Report notes.\u00a0\u201cWithout malaria control measures, deaths would have increased by 94% over the same period.\u201d<\/p>\n Malaria \u2018way off target\u2019<\/p>\n Despite progress, HIV, TB and malaria remain the world\u2019s deadliest infectious diseases. The $18 billion budget could save 23 million lives between 2027 and 2029, avert 400 million new infections and result in a 1:19 return on investment across the three diseases, according to Fund modelling.<\/p>\n \u201cMalaria is way off track, with 600,000 people a year dying,\u201d admits Kate Kolaczinski, the Fund\u2019s senior specialist on the disease.<\/p>\n \u201cMalaria is the leading cause of outpatient visits in sub-Saharan Africa,\u201d she adds, with 263 million malaria cases in 2023.<\/p>\n Between 2002 and 2023, malaria cases in countries supported by the Global Fund increased by 8%<\/p>\n \u201cRising conflict, disruptions from extreme weather events and increasing resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides have complicated efforts to combat malaria in 2024,\u201d according to the Results Report 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal of ending [malaria] by 2030 looks daunting. Reductions in global health funding could undermine progress against malaria. A widening funding gap, combined with existing crises and an expected population growth in areas at high-risk of malaria, could threaten the lives of millions.\u201d<\/p>\n President Duma Boko of Botswana has urged countries to support the Replenishment, noting in an exclusive article<\/a> for Health Policy Watch: \u201cIf the world retreats now, an additional 750,000 children in Africa could die by 2030, and our economies could lose $83 billion in GDP if funding is so low that all prevention interventions are halted.\u201d<\/p>\n HIV resurgence?<\/p>\n \u201cWe are off target for HIV prevention. In 2024, there were 1.3 million new infections. We need a fourfold reduction to meet the 2025 target of 370,000.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, TB surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and but 2024 brought new progress against the disease.<\/p>\n \u201cRobust funding commitments in 2025 are absolutely critical to maintaining our momentum against TB and preventing a resurgence that could undo decades of hard-won progress,\u201d according to the Results Report 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n It describes an \u201cexciting pipeline of innovative tools\u201d, including new TB tests, better treatments and \u201cat least five TB vaccines in phase III efficacy trials\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Private sector contributions<\/p>\n While the bulk of the Fund\u2019s budget comes from country contributions, the private sector also contributes \u2013 with the Gates Foundation being the biggest and most consistent private donor<\/a>, contributing $3.91 billion since 2002.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Global Fund will go down in history as one of humanity\u2019s biggest achievements. It\u2019s also one of the kindest things people have ever done for each other,\u201d according to Gates Foundation chair Bill Gates<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Global Fund\u2019s track record proves it is an excellent investment for our global health dollars. Its work is critical to achieving the goal of ending AIDS, TB and malaria, and making our world a more equitable place for people everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The Children\u2019s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) has significantly increased its contribution recently, focusing on expanding access to lenacapavir by both supporting procurement and the development of generics.<\/p>\n John Fairhurst, who heads the Fund\u2019s private sector mobilisation, says that the sector has contributed over $5.3 billion in the past 20 years \u2013 often playing a \u201ccatalytic role\u201d in innovation.<\/p>\n Unlike countries, which give unrestricted funds, private donors can earmark their contributions.<\/p>\n Image Credits: Tommy Trenchard\/ Global Fund<\/a>, Global Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Combat the infodemic in health information and support health policy reporting from the global South. Our growing network of journalists in Africa, Asia, Geneva and New York connect the dots between regional realities and the big global debates, with evidence-based, open access news and analysis. To make a personal or organisational contribution click here on PayPal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deborah and her 10-month-old daughter Catherine at the Baylor College of Medicine Children\u2019s Foundation in Lilongwe, Malawi. Deborah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-152371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/malaria-story-03-1024x682.jpg\")
Members of a spray team prepare their equipment before spraying homes with insecticide to protect families from malaria in Kaukira, Honduras.
\nSaving 70 million lives<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-20-at-18.56.14-1024x294.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-20-at-18.43.39-1024x292.png\")
\u201cThere\u2019s a risk of HIV resurgence, especially now that we have funding challenges that we\u2019re facing,\u201d says the Fund\u2019s HIV head, Izukanji Sikazwe, pointing out that 9.2 million people living with HIV still need access to treatment.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-20-at-18.50.50-1024x289.png\")
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