human rights

ABSTRACT Executive Director Mark Dybul says that although the Global Fund has had success in providing services to women and children, and in reducing infections, the rate of infection among adolescent girls and young women remains shockingly high.

ABSTRACT Frontline AIDS published a guide to implementing and scaling up programs to remove human rights-related barriers to HIV services with support from GIZ BACKUP Health and the Global Fund. Although it is designed to address human rights-related barriers to HIV serves, it can be used to address human rights is other settings.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund has acted promptly to fight COVID-19, and this is commendable. But important questions remain on the source of the funds, the usefulness of previous investments in health systems, and how to uphold the Global Fund’s commitment to safeguarding human rights and gender equality.

ABSTRACT The Office of the Inspector General recently conducted an advisory review of the opportunities to strengthen efforts to remove human rights-related barriers to accessing services for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. The OIG made recommendations that fall under three broad categories: aligning human-rights investments and understanding with corporate priorities; clarifying roles and objectives to drive the Fund's strategic objective of promoting and protecting human rights; and improving the monitoring and reporting of human rights-related investments and outputs.

ABSTRACT This GFO’s ‘Of Interest’ column highlights Sir Elton John and French President Emmanuel Macron’s joint appeal for a $14-billion Replenishment, Japan’s pledge to save ‘one million lives’ with its commitment to the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment, the launch of German NGOs’ #FillUpTheFund campaign, South Africa’s new human rights plan for TB and HIV, and Botswana’s decriminalization of homosexuality.

ABSTRACT The International Council of AIDS Service Organizations and the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations have created a partnership, funded through the Global Fund’s Human Rights Strategic Initiative, to provide technical assistance to implementers of Global Fund grants in 20 countries, to reduce barriers to accessing services.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund Board has approved another $229.4 million in funding for 16 country grants. The grants emanated from funding requests submitted by nine countries. The Board also approved $24.0 million for three multi-country grants. Interventions worth $127.4 million were added to the Unfunded Quality Demand Register. Of the $229.4 million for country grants, Nigeria led the way with three grants valued at $71.2 million.

ABSTRACT In 2015, the OIG launched a human-rights complaint mechanism for violations alleged in the context of Global Fund-supported programs – but one year later, it had not been used to report a single complaint. The Global Fund wondered why, and has just published an independent report on the mechanism’s low uptake.

ABSTRACT In this “OF INTEREST” roundup, we highlight an article on how the TB problem in the DPRK is about to get worse; an article that describes how the Global Fund’s approach to human rights has evolved in the last 15 years; and an article about how, as a result of a public–private partnership, drones are being used to deliver blood products in Rwanda.

ABSTRACT The Wits Health Consortium will continue in its role as principal recipient for the Southern African Regional TB in the Mining Sector Program, thanks to the renewal of a multi-country TB grant. TB prevalence in mining areas is 3–7 times that of the general population.