July 20, 2022
On July 13th, Friends honored six Congressional champions of the Global Fund.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Hear from our Global Fund Congressional Champions:
The event highlighted bipartisan support for the Global Fund, both now and for the future.
“50 million lives saved thanks to the Global Fund partnership and bipartisan Congressional leadership. What could be more impressive than that?”
–Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after receiving the Global Health Guardian award. The special award was presented by Friends’ board member Dr. Eric Goosby, a former head of PEPFAR.
“The Global Fund has been one of the most successful programs in the history of government… The numbers speak for themselves.”
–Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), recipient of our Global Health Champion award which was presented by Friends’ board members Dr. Mark Dybul, a former head of PEPFAR and of the Global Fund.
Activist and board member Maurine Murenga, presented Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) with the Global Health Champion award. Rep. Lee emphasized the importance of bipartisanship:
“It is so important to keep beating that drum about why the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria has got to remain bipartisan.”
Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) on why it is critical for the U.S. to be a leader during the Global Fund’s 7th replenishment conference:
“It challenges our allies to step up to the plate as well, which I think is so important.”– Representative McCaul.
Board member Nicole Sexton presented Rep. McCaul the award.
“It’s the best thing that I’ve been able to do… to make those changes [in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria].”
– Representative Kay Granger (R-TX), recipient of our Global Health Champion award. Former Congresswoman (R-AL) and board member Martha Roby presented Rep. Granger with the award.
In addition, the awards ceremony featured remarks from Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands (bottom left) and Ambassador John Nkengasong of PEPFAR (bottom right).
Check out our social media coverage of the event: