In this lesson, we'll talk about the diplomatic origins of the Global Fund and how it has evolved as a critical player in the global health architecture. As was mentioned previously, the Global Fund was a result of initial discussions at the 2000 G7, held in Okinawa, Japan. A year later, President George W Bush held a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House with United Nation Secretary General Kofi Annan and President Obasanjo of Nigeria to announce a new Global Fund for HIV, AIDS, TB, and malaria. The Secretary General called on the world to commit $7 to $10 billion a year to support the effort and President Bush announced an initial $200 million commitment to the new fund. This announcement was made in advance of a United Nations General Assembly special summit on HIV/AIDS, held in New York in June, 2011. At this summit, the General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the establishment of a new global HIV/AIDS and health fund. Six months later, the official entity called The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, held its first board meeting in Geneva and the US government announced an additional $200 million commitment. Today, the Global Fund, as it's now called, is the world's largest global health financing mechanism and has disbursed $30 billion since its inception. The Global Fund describes itself as a, quote, 21st century partnership organization designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as epidemics, end quote. It raises and disburses approximately $4 billion a year and works in more than 100 countries. On this map, you get a sense of the broad reach that the Global Fund has. What many people don't realize about the Global Fund is that they are truly a fund, meaning they provide financing, but rely on local experts to program and manage the money. The Global Fund is headquartered in Geneva and they do not have any country offices. That is one of the four principles that drives how the Global Fund operates, country ownership, meaning that countries determine for themselves how best to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria within their borders. The Global Fund's other operational principles are partnership, performance-based funding and transparency. We'll talk more about how these principles are put into action in our lesson on Global Fund governance. So how does one get funding from the Global Fund? Well, countries must apply for funding. Each country is expected to convene what is called country coordinating mechanism, made up of representatives of various sectors in disease areas. Via the CCM, as it's called, countries can then apply at any time during a set three-year application window, ensuring that the application and funding align with each country's processes and timing. A country's eligibility is reviewed annually and is determined by its income level alongside its disease burden. At the beginning of each of the Global Fund's three-year cycles, the board assesses the total amount of funding available based on pledges and contributions received. This forms a basis for allocating funding to countries. And how is the money allocated between diseases? This is also driven by what each country requests from the Fund. To date, 53% of funding has gone to HIV/AIDS, 28% has gone to anti-malaria efforts, and 16% has gone to TB programs. The resources from the Global Fund represent an enormous percentage of the world's total funding for the three diseases. For HIV/AIDS it provides 20% of the world's funding, about 50% of global funding for malaria and more than 75% of funds for tuberculosis. Now, let's take a moment to review what we have learned thus far. So who finances the Global Fund? The US is the largest funder of the Global Fund, providing just under one-third of the overall funding. In fact, the US Congress passed a law mandating that US funding could never exceed 33% of the total funding. That way, it would ensure the US wasn't shouldering the full burden. The law has kept pressure on the Global Fund to actively raise funds from other countries, and to date more than 50 countries have made contributions. Other major donors to the Global Fund include the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Japan, Germany and Canada. The Global Fund raises its money through a Replenishment Conference held every three years. The next Replenishment Conference will be held in late 2016 and will raise financial support for 2017 through 2019. Beyond governments, philanthropic foundations and private sector companies also donate to the Global Fund. In addition to traditional contributions, there is a unique initiative called Product Red that raises money for the Global Fund's AIDS support. Red has raised over $350 million to date for the Global Fund by selling products, which you've probably seen, as varied as t-shirts and vodka and partnering with companies like Apple, Coca-Cola and Starbucks. In summary, when you consider the huge contribution the Global Fund makes to stopping the spread of some of the world's worst diseases, as well as its large number of partners, it is quiet remarkable that it only came into existence in 2000. It is a great example of global health diplomacy resulting in tangible improvements to global health financing and improving people's lives worldwide.
