Global Fund [to 27 June 2015]
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/mediacenter/newsreleases/

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News Releases
25 June 2015
Uganda and Global Fund Sign New Grants
KAMPALA, Uganda – Uganda and the Global Fund today signaled a new phase of partnership by signing five new grants for US$226 million to fight HIV and tuberculosis as well as to build resilient and sustainable systems for health in the country.

Funding for grants supported by the Global Fund partnership come from various donors, many of whom were present at a signing ceremony today, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and South Korea.

“Under this funding model, the Global Fund aims at creating a bigger impact on the three diseases in its design to provide predictable funding, to reward ambitious plans, to work on more flexible time lines and with a smoother, shorter processing of funds,” said Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda.

Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye, Minister of Health, added: “We are committed to efficient utilization of funds and guarantee stewardship to ensure maximization of the monies. To attain this commitment, there is need for increased and sustained funding to ensure testing and treatment for all who are in need and request for holistic support and full country coverage.”

“If Uganda is to achieve its vision 2040, we need a healthy population.” said Matia Kasaija, Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development of Uganda, confirming that the Ministry will receive and implement grants to continue their education and prevention programs as well as expanding provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART) to people living with HIV, including expectant mothers with HIV.

While investing for HIV prevention among general and most-at-risk populations, Uganda aims to increase coverage of ART to 69 percent of people living with HIV in 2017 from a baseline of 44 percent in 2014. The Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV will be further increased from 85 percent to 90 percent by end of 2016. Uganda’s joint TB and HIV control efforts will aim to have all people with TB tested for HIV. It will also seek to give ART to co-infected TB/HIV patients during their TB treatment…

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24 June 2015
Partnership Forum Looks at Strategy to End Epidemics
BANGKOK, Thailand – Consultations began today among partners in global health, including civil society, nongovernmental organizations and public health experts, seeking input into a new strategy to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics and build resilient and sustainable systems for health.

The Partnership Forum brings together more than 120 people to a two-day gathering to focus on developing the Global Fund’s strategy for 2017-2021. The forum is considering recent advances in science and delivery of health services, and at how barriers such as stigma and discrimination can be removed. It also involves private sector partners who are contributing resources towards a sustainable response.

“The Global Fund is a partnership in the truest sense of the word,” said Aida Kurtovic, the Vice-Chair of the Global Fund Board. “A strategy to defeat these epidemics will be more powerful and effective if it is built by people living with the three diseases and those who support them.”

The Forum will focus closely on building resilient and sustainable systems for health, working in challenging environments and the human rights dimension of the epidemics…

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Announcements
25 June 2015
UNAIDS and Lancet Commission Call for Urgent Action on AIDS Response
Countries most affected by HIV must focus on stopping new HIV infections and expanding access to antiretroviral treatment or risk the epidemic rebounding, urges a major new report from the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission.

“We must face hard truths—if the current rate of new HIV infections continues, merely sustaining the major efforts we already have in place will not be enough to stop deaths from AIDS increasing within five years in many countries,” said Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Co-Chair of the Commission, and lead author of the report. “Expanding sustainable access to treatment is essential, but we will not treat ourselves out of the AIDS epidemic. We must also reinvigorate HIV prevention efforts, particularly among populations at highest risk, while removing legal and societal discrimination.”

While unprecedented progress has been made to increase access to HIV treatment globally, the report shows that the rate of new HIV infections is not falling fast enough. This, combined with high demographic growth in some of the most affected countries, is increasing the number of people living with HIV who will need antiretroviral therapy to stay alive.

“We have to act now. The next five years provide a fragile window of opportunity to fast-track the response and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Co-Convenor of the Commission. “If we don’t, the human and financial consequences will be catastrophic.”…