Friends of the Global Fight

ABSTRACT This is the third in a series of interviews with the Senior Disease Coordinators at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In this Q&A, Friends spoke with Dr. Ade Fakoya, the Senior Disease Coordinator specializing in HIV/AIDS, about the opportunities to fight AIDS covered in Friends of the Global Fight’s report, "At the Tipping Point: U.S. Leadership to End AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria".

ABSTRACT On October 11, 2018, a bipartisan group of 18 U.S. senators urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Administration to increase the United States’ pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for 2020-2022. The U.S. pledged $4.3 billion for the last three-year funding cycle in 2016.

ABSTRACT “We need to focus on ending these three epidemics for good,” said Chris Collins, president of Friends of the Global Fight, in a recent op-ed article in The Hill. The article makes the case that U.S. leadership has been foundational to the incredible progress the world has made in combating the three diseases, but to not double-down now risks squandering much of that progress. This message may form the centerpiece of the Friends’ advocacy for an increased contribution during the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment drive, which is expected to get underway over the next year.

ABSTRACT President Donald Trump had sought a $224 million cut to the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund, but the FY 2018 budget adopted by Congress left the contribution intact at $1.35 billion. This is the first contribution by the U.S. towards its pledge of $4.3 billion for the replenishment period 2017–2019. The budgets for other global health programs generally remained unchanged from FY 2017, despite the president’s proposed cuts.

ABSTRACT If U.S. President Donald Trump had his way, $425 million would be cut from the United States’ planned $1.35 billion contribution to the Global Fund for the next fiscal year, 1 October 2018 to 31 March 2019. All told, the administration’s proposed budget contains cuts of over $1 billion for global AIDS programs, but it has little or no chance of becoming law.

ABSTRACT Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has published an issues brief that makes the case for the U.S. continuing to invest in global health generally, and in the Global Fund.