At the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Replenishment Conference today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed real leadership and ambition with a CAD$1.2 billion investment towards the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment. This historic investment demonstrates Canada’s unwavering commitment to health equity, representing the single largest investment Canada has made towards any international financing institution for health.
The Prime Minister also announced an additional contribution of CAD$100 million for the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism, which supports countries to mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19 on programs to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, and initiates urgent improvements in health and community systems.
With this announcement, Canada has stepped up for marginalized communities across the world through the Global Fund – a proven mechanism that has helped save 50 million lives and that Canada and Results volunteers have supported since its inception in 2002. Thanks to the sustained support from donors like Canada, the Global Fund can continue its critical work to end the deadly epidemics of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and help the world brace for the next pandemic.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, it demanded our attention and resources, allowing these ancient epidemics to regain momentum. The impact was devastating – for the first time in the Global Fund’s history, deaths from TB and malaria increased and hard-won progress on HIV was stalled. The Global Fund partnership rapidly mounted a response to deliver additional resources and reverse this damage. In 2021, we began to see these investments paying off as treatment and prevention programs for HIV, TB and malaria began to bounce back.
Canada has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund and has invested CAD 3.5 billion to date. This new contribution from Canada will support the Global Fund in saving 20 million lives by ensuring continuity of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria programs, and help the world get back on track to ending these epidemics that are largely preventable and treatable. Canada can be proud of its contribution toward equitable recovery and health system strengthening that will move the needle toward a world without HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and a world better prepared to prevent, detect and respond to new health threats. There remains a lot of work to realize this ambition, which was severely set off track, but today we can celebrate Canada for choosing to #FightForWhatCounts.
We also want to celebrate the advocacy efforts made to influence this historic investment. The level of ambition displayed by Canada on the global stage today was greatly influenced by the tireless efforts of volunteers, civil society, affected communities, and parliamentarians from across party lines. Hundreds of Canadians came together to call for ambition, and today the Prime Minister, Minister Harjit Sajjan, and Minister Chrystia Freeland responded.
Thank you to our partners, volunteers and supporters for your work throughout this campaign. Your individual efforts and our collective impact have resulted in a big win for #TheWorldWeNeed – one that will help us to get one step closer to a world without AIDS, TB and malaria and prepare us for the next pandemic.
