During a live webcast discussing recent changes at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, “[p]anelists discussed the fund’s new strategy and what this strategy means for the global fight against these three diseases,” GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports. J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted the Global Fund’s new general manager, Gabriel Jaramillo, had moved quickly in focusing on restructuring and realigning the fund, according to the blog. Todd Summers, independent consultant and chair of the Strategy, Investment & Impact Committee at the Global Fund, said, “Now we see lots of opportunity to really make a big difference and change forever the trajectory” of the epidemics, “Global Pulse” notes.

Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund, stressed the successes of the Global Fund and said “the opportunities of this moment are outstripping resources,” the blog writes (Judem, 6/14). The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog writes “panelists highlighted the need for greater oversight of programs in the field, as well as a stronger commitment on the part of bilateral programs in-country to support effective use of the fund’s donations” (Barton, 6/13). Shepherd Smith, president and founder of the Institute for Youth Development, “compared the Global Fund to PEPFAR,” according to the blog. “PEPFAR is well-run, well-managed, and the Global Fund is generally not anywhere near it in quality. The oversight in respect to programs is lacking in the field, and that really needs to be part of this reform effort,” Smith said, according to the blog (6/14). A webcast of the panel discussion, which was moderated by Jen Kates, vice president and director for Global Health & HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, is available online (6/13).