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EU announces €370 million of new support to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

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english_CMYK_originalThe European Union will today (2 December) announce new support of €370 million (more than US$500m) for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria for the period 2014-2016, at a conference in Washington, where donors are expected to set out their pledges for future support to fight against the three diseases. The conference will take place just one day after World AIDS Day.

Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "Huge progress has already been made in the fight against HIV, TB, and malaria but with millions of people still at risk of infection, the battle is far from being won. That is why we are going to increase our contribution to the Global Fund in the next three years. ”

Piebalgs added: “If we are now to make the replenishment of the Global Fund a success, we need to look at new and innovative ways of working; for example, leveraging traditional financing with other contributions and vice versa. Greater contributions from the private sector and emerging economies will make it far easier for us to control AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; helping to reduce pricing and improve delivery to supply the poorest people in the world with much-needed health products – everything from drugs to bed nets.”

The European Commission provides support to partner countries so that they can build their own health systems in order to tackle these diseases. It works with organisations like the Global Fund as an effective and complementary financing partner in this work.

Background

The Global Fund is a public-private partnership and a global financial instrument designed to make available and leverage additional financial resources to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The European Commission has been associated with the Global Fund ever since it was founded 12 years ago, in 2001. Since then the Commission has contributed more than €1.2 billion to the fund from the common EU budget and from the European Development Fund, to which all member states contribute.

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The Commission is pledging an additional €370m (over $500m) to the Global Fund for the period 2014-2016, representing an increase of €40m ($54m) compared to the current funding level (€330m or $443 for the 2011-2013 period).

In April the Commission hosted a very successful preparatory meeting in Brussels in view of the pledging conference in December in Washington.

It is estimated that by the end of 2013, Global Fund grants to more than 140 countries have provided antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for AIDS to more than 6.1 million people, 11.2 million people with new cases of infectious tuberculosis have been detected and treated, and more than 360 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been provided to families, preventing malaria.

The number of people dying of AIDS-related causes fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s.

In 2011, 1.4 million people died from TB, with Africa recording the highest per capita death rate. Multidrug-resistant TB poses a major threat, with an estimated 630, 000 people in the world suffering from this form of TB today.

In 2010, there were 106 malaria-endemic countries and approximately 3.3 billion people at risk of infection worldwide. 91 percent of malaria deaths globally were in Africa; 86 percent were of children under 5.

More information

MEMO/13/1072: World AIDS Day 2013: The Fight Against HIV/AIDS by the EU

Website of the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs

Website of EuropeAid Development and Co-operation

More information on the Global Fund

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