Today, the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Global Tuberculosis joined forces to raise awareness of the forthcoming replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
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Opening the reception, Stephen Dougthy MP, Jeremy Lefroy MP and Nick Herbert MP praised the UK’s continued leadership on global health. Emphasising the Global Fund’s remarkable impact since being founded in 2002, the Chairs highlighted the urgent need to step up investments to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals as well as commitments made through the UN High-Level Meeting on TB and the Commonwealth Malaria Summit and to avoid slipping back and losing hard-won gains.
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Guests were addressed by Maurine Murenga, an advocate from Kenya. Maurine has been living with HIV since the early 2000s and now runs an NGO supporting young women and adolescent girls living with HIV and affected by TB. Maurine spoke about the tangible impact of the Global Fund in her own life, enabling her and her son to access HIV treatment and providing vital services that ensured her second child was born HIV-free. Now an active member of global and national civil society networks, Maurine also emphasised the role of the Global Fund in driving a people-centred response that left no one behind.
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We were joined by actor Michael Sheen, who, having seen the impact of the Global Fund’s interventions first hand, advocated passionately for an increased UK investment at the sixth replenishment. The broadcaster Charlotte Webster, meanwhile, spoke of her experience of falling ill with malaria following a charity bike ride and the arduous treatment she faced as a result.
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Executive Director of the Global Fund, Peter Sands, presented the Global Fund’s investment case, outlining both the Global Fund’s remarkable impact, the modelling that demonstrates to need to mobilise at least US$ 14 billion for the next funding cycle, and as the moral, economic and global health security arguments that underline the importance of a successful sixth replenishment. He also emphasised the broader health systems impact of the Global Fund’s investments and the work it was doing alongside other multilaterals to prioritise the most vulnerable people and ensure no one was left behind.
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Dr Andrew Murrison MP, Minister of State at the Department for International Development, addressed the audience to reaffirm the UK’s strong commitment to the Global Fund and the Department’s ongoing efforts to ensure a successful sixth replenishment. Speaking of his own experience of having TB, he emphasised the importance of ensuring effective and sustainable health systems as a whole, both in terms of the UK’s priorities for the Global Fund’s next funding cycle and DFID’s broader work on Universal Health Coverage.
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The reception was closed by Alex Norris MP, Shadow Minister for International Development, who spoke about the strong cross party support for a successful sixth replenishment. He went on to urge the Minister to ensure an ambitious and early UK pledge in order to build momentum ahead of the replenishment conference in October.
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Attended by Members of all three APPG’s, representatives from the Department for International Development, key NGOs, advocates and other external stakeholders, the event gave guests an opportunity to exchange views on the forthcoming replenishment and urge the UK government to invest £1.4 billion in the Global Fund’s sixth replenishment.
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The APPG on Global TB would like to thank the APPGs on HIV/AIDS, and Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, as well as the UK Global Fund Working Group for their support for this event.
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