The Global Fund celebrates 20 years: 44 million lives saved

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The Global Fund

For the first time in the Global Fund’s 20-year history, progress was lost in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. However, despite this grim backdrop, the Global Fund continued to fight back and deliver.

Years of experience fighting HIV, TB and malaria prepared many countries to respond to COVID-19, preventing an even worse outcome. The Global Fund remained the primary provider of non-vaccine tools to fight the pandemic – providing a steady lifeline of tests, medical oxygen and personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect health care workers in more than 100 countries around the world.

The Global Fund partnership marked a number of key milestones in 2021, including the partnership's 20th anniversary, which provided an opportunity to reflect on the tremendous progress made over two decades and the huge challenges that lay ahead.

“Again and again, we have seen the poorest and most marginalised suffer the most from the most dangerous infectious diseases. We must take an approach that recognizes this cruel reality. HIV was the last big pandemic to strike humanity, and while we have made great progress, we have not yet defeated it. COVID-19 poses another huge challenge, particularly to communities most at risk from HIV. We must fight both pandemics, and beat both, and do so in a way that tackles the inequities they exploit and deepen.”

Peter Sands

Executive Director, The Global Fund