20 May 2014
GENEVA – The World Health Organization and the Global Fund today strengthened their long established partnership with a new technical agreement to support countries in developing more strategic investments in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO, and Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, both stressed the importance of expanding partnerships to let country-led programs maximize the impact of health investments.
“This renewed partnership between WHO and the Global Fund will allow us to increase impact and reach more people by working together more closely with countries,” said Dr. Chan.
Dr. Dybul signed the agreement with Hiroki Nakatani, Assistant Director-General, WHO, during the World Health Assembly, a week-long gathering of more than 3,000 delegates from all over the world.
Under the agreement, WHO will provide technical assistance to Global Fund applicants under the new funding model ahead of the submission of their grant applications, or concept notes. The new funding model promotes opportunities for health interventions with a bigger impact, so robust concept notes and sound national strategic plans in specific geographic areas are strongly encouraged.
“The new funding model captures the promise of partnership that is our core belief,” said Dr. Dybul. “This agreement gives us a clear focus, and reinvigorates the spirit of working together.”
Country Coordinating Mechanisms and civil society organizations can apply for WHO technical assistance. WHO will provide assistance through its country or regional offices and with the Roll Back Malaria and STOP TB partnerships.
By building on the progress made in recent years, by approaching health challenges holistically, the WHO and the Global Fund expressed common commitment to approach health challenges with ambition and determination.
Last month, UNICEF and the Global Fund reinforced their partnership with a new agreement to better align investments in commodities aimed at improving the health of mothers, newborns and children. The Global Fund looks forward to formalizing a partnership agreement with UNAIDS in the near future.
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The Global Fund is an international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria. The Global Fund promotes partnerships between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities, the most effective way to help reach those in need. This innovative approach relies on country ownership and performance-based funding, meaning that people in countries implement their own programs based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing where verifiable results are achieved.
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has supported more than 1,000 programs in more than 140 countries, providing AIDS treatment for 6.1 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 11.2 million people and 360 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing with the three diseases.
