Oxfam statement on the Global Fund 10 year anniversary

Tomorrow, 28th January, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will celebrate its 10 year anniversary.

Oxfam is warning that the Fund, which saves 4,000 lives a day, could save millions more if it had all the funding it needs. The Global Fund expects to distribute $10 billion worth of drugs in the two years 2011-2013 but it currently faces a $2 billion shortfall. The next donor funding round has been frozen, meaning life-saving medicines are not reaching the people who desperately need them.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Head of the Development Finance, said:

“The Global Fund has helped to save millions of lives in the last 10 years but, because of its massive funding gap, millions more people who don’t have access to life saving drugs have little prospect of getting them.”

Yesterday Bill Gates pledged to donate $750 million to the fund.

Marriott said: “We welcome the strong endorsement of the Global Fund by the Gates Foundation and hope that this will encourage rich country donors to step up and fill the gap.”

In the last 10 years the Global Fund has prevented 4.1 million deaths from Tuberculosis and given 6.6 million people access to life-saving AIDS treatment.

Read more

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (theglobalfund.org)

Bill Gates Donates $750 Million to Shore Up Disease-Fighting Fund (nytimes.com)

Oxfam's campaign: Health and Education for all