“Over the past decade — and with the U.S. government leading the way with investments in [PEPFAR], the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — the world has reduced HIV incidence by more than 20 percent, tuberculosis deaths by more than 40 percent and malaria deaths in Africa by 33 percent,” Deborah Derrick, president of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the Huffington Post’s “The Big Push” blog. “The Global Fund — the world’s largest global health financier — has worked with the U.S. government and other partners for the past 10 years to fight the scourges of AIDS, tuberculosis [TB] and malaria,” she states, noting, “This year, the Global Fund seeks to replenish its resources by mobilizing pledges from donors to continue and expand this work, especially in regions with the greatest disease burden and fewest resources.”

“In its recently published Needs Assessment, the Global Fund estimates that $15 billion will be required over the next three years to maintain the programs it funds today; allow new programs to be added; and renew and scale up existing, effective programs,” Derrick continues, adding, “The Global Fund has identified four primary ‘pillars’ of support to get to that $15 billion goal, noting that the fights against these diseases ‘cannot be the sole responsibility of external donors.'” She identifies these pillars as current donor countries, the private sector, domestic co-investment and emerging economies, and expands on each. “The world currently stands at a tipping point,” she states, and writes, “But this opportunity will slip away — and the gains we’ve made will be put at significant risk — unless we continue investing in proven interventions and leverage recent global health breakthroughs, including falling costs, growing scientific knowledge and improved implementation” (6/18).