Hello from Friends! Here is a quick look at what's new in our work to fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria in the age of COVID-19.
2021 Global Fund Results Report:
44 Million Lives Saved But
COVID-19 Has Devastated HIV and TB Services
The Global Fund partnership has saved 44 million lives since 2002, according to the annual Results Report released on September 8th. However, the impact of COVID-19 has been devastating.

For the first time in the twenty year history of the Global Fund, key results in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria have gone backwards.
Setbacks Highlighted in the Global Fund's 2021 Results Report:

TB:
  • Approximately one million fewer people with TB were treated in 2020 compared with 2019.
  • For drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB, testing and treatment declined by a staggering 19% and 37%, respectively.
HIV:
  • In 2020, HIV tests declined by 22% and 11% fewer people were reached with HIV prevention programs and service.
  • Children have been left furthest behind, with only 54% getting the lifesaving HIV treatment they need.
Malaria:
  • Malaria programming fared better through the pandemic, but progress against the disease stalled.
U.S. and Other Donor Support Has Been and Will Continue to be Essential to Avoid Losing 20 Years of the Global Fund's Results

The Global Fund responded quickly and at scale to the new pandemic, mobilizing and approving an additional $3.3 billion as of August 2021 for 105 countries (see map) to fight COVID-19, protect front-line workers, and adapt lifesaving HIV, TB and malaria programs.

In March 2021, the U.S. committed $3.5 billion to the Global Fund's COVID-19 Response Mechanism as part of the American Rescue Plan.

“I want to thank Congress for providing a significant infusion of COVID-19 funding to the Global Fund during a critical time. The new data confirms how crucial U.S. support continues to be,” writes President and CEO of Friends Chris Collins in a Friends press release.

The Global Fund’s COVID-19 response has supported innovations like
  • Delivering malaria bed nets door-to-door
  • Dispensing multi-month supplies of TB and HIV drugs
  • Applying digital tools to monitor TB treatment.
The Global Fund's Response to Worldwide Oxygen Shortages
As of August 22, 70 countries across the world are at risk of oxygen shortages according to analysis conducted by Every Breath Counts.
In response to global oxygen shortages, the Global Fund's COVID-19 Response Mechanism has invested $412 million in oxygen products.
Transformative Role of Technology in Pandemic Preparedness and Response:
Innovation & Community Needs
Read our new report published by Wilton Park in partnership with GBCHealth
to learn more about how the private sector, artificial intelligence and machine learning can work alongside civil society to achieve equity-based pandemic preparedness and response.
Must Read

World Leaders Urged to Boost Vaccine-Equity in Letter (Financial Times)
In a letter, two of Friends' Board members, Mark Dybul and Former Senator Bill Frist, along with other notable signatories like Bono, Monica Gandhi and Tom Hart, urged world leaders, "to dramatically decrease worldwide [COVID-19] cases and slow transmission of the virus through widespread global vaccination, combined with other public health measures... people everywhere should also have equitable access to tests, therapies and other proven interventions so lives can be saved using all COVID-19 tools."
How COVID-19 is Affecting AIDS, TB and Malaria
In a New York Times article, The Pandemic Has Set Back the Fight Against H.I.V., TB and Malaria, Apoorva Mandavilli examines how COVID-19 has disrupted AIDS, TB and malaria treatment and prevention services in low- and middle-income countries, using the Global Fund's 2021 Results Report,

Other News:
  • AIDS: How the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting HIV/AIDS efforts in Nigeria (People’s Gazette) 

  • Tuberculosis: Global Fund Grants U.S. $37 Million to FIND for Advancement of TB prevention and Control in India (The Global Fund)

  • Malaria: Malaria Threat Resurfaces Due to Climate Change and COVID-19 (Jakarta Globe)

We're tracking the intersection of COVID-19 and AIDS, TB and malaria. See regular updates on our website.
Global Health News
  • How the Pandemic Highlighted the Plight of Community Health Workers (National Interest) 

  • Poverty, Disease, Customs: Why So Many Indonesian Children Die of COVID-19 (NYTimes)



  • Trial Suggests Malaria Sickness Could be Cut by 70% (BBC News)
Be sure to check www.theglobalfight.org for the latest. Thanks for your support.
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