(Ecofin Agency) - The Global Fund plans to raise $18 billion to pursue the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The institution announced it in a press release yesterday February 23 as part of the launch of its seventh replenishment campaign.

The fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria has been overshadowed by the fight against Covid-19 over the past two years. "In the face of the catastrophic impact caused by COVID-19 on the fight against HIV, TB, and malaria, the choice is stark: We either increase funding, or we abandon the Sustainable Development Goal target of finally defeating these pandemics by 2030," said Peter Sands (pictured), Executive Director of the Global Fund.

 The Global Fund will use the money to reduce the mortality rate of the three targeted diseases by 64%, saving 20 million people between 2024 and 2026. It will also reduce the incidence rate of the three diseases by 58% from 2020 levels by 2026 while reducing the number of deaths from 2.4 million in 2020 to 950,000 within the next four years. Finally, the new resources will strengthen health systems to better prepare for pandemics.

Since the covid-19 crisis started, the WHO had expressed concerns about its negative impact on the management of the fight against other diseases, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO indicated in 2020 that excess mortality due to malaria could be greater than direct mortality due to covid-19 in SSA. Also, of the 409,000 people killed by malaria worldwide in 2019, more than 90% of the deaths were recorded in Africa, mainly in SSA. This places the continent at the top of the list of regions that should benefit from the new Global Fund replenishment program.

The funding to be raised is also intended to act as a catalyst to increase national investments to $59 billion as part of the fight against the three targeted diseases. Let’s note that five African presidents (DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa) participated in the launch of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment campaign.