Global Fund provides funding to over 100 countries to plan and respond to AIDS epidemic and represents 25 per cent of the international funding for HIV response.”
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Due to Global Fund (GF)’s intervention in addressing HIV/AIDS in various countries, new HIV infections have dropped by 45 per cent, while total AIDS related deaths have dropped by 65 per cent.
This is according to Leo Zekeng, the Country Director of UN Joints Action Against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), who said this at the 7th replenishment preconference on Saturday, September 10, 2022, in Abuja.
He added that Global Fund was indispensable in the fight against HIV.
Explaining more, he stated: “Global Fund matters to UNAIDS and the HIV response and is one of the key players in our collective response to AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“Global Fund provides funding to over 100 countries to plan and respond to AIDS epidemic and represents 25 per cent of the international funding for the HIIV response.”
Zekeng commended the Fund for its global intervention which has saved lives across the world and achieved what was once thought to be impossible.
According to him, with the impact of GF, total AIDS related deaths have also dropped by 65 per cent.
He added that with access to treatment, HIV positive persons now live like any HIV negative person, and expressed UNAIDS’ commitment to continuous collaboration with GF in developing health infrastructure, strengthening health systems and building capacity of health personnel.
The Country Director expressed optimism that the world will provide at least the 18 billion dollars GF needed to tackle the AIDS scourge and other deadly diseases by 2030.
He called on donors and recipient countries to stand in solidarity in fighting for what counted through successful 7th GF replenishment.