For August, a call to help Global Fund end preventable disease

Aug 5th, 2010 1:27 PM UTC
By Malaka Gharib

For most of us, August is the slowest month of the year. It’s a time to go on vacation, leave work a little early just for the heck of it, and because of the congressional recess, stop watching the news.

But here at ONE, we’re forging ahead and actually ramping up our work. This month, we’re focusing a lot of our efforts on ensuring that President Obama commits $6 billion to the Global Fund over the next three years.

For the Global Fund, the world’s largest health financier, 2010 is a replenishment year. Come October (we told you there was no time to lose!), the fate of the Global Fund’s financing for the next three years will be set in stone – and that’s why we’re urging the president to show real American leadership for the Global Fund right now.

The Global Fund has hit some serious home runs for malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis – all preventable diseases – since it started in 2002. By providing funding for vital prevention and treatment efforts, the Global Fund has helped save a whopping 5.7 million lives – roughly 4,000 a day. In fact, the Fund provides two-thirds of all international financing to fight malaria and tuberculosis and one-quarter to HIV/AIDS.

We don’t expect the president to fund the Global Fund by himself. International donors, including African countries, and groups from the public and private sector, will help contribute to this fight against preventable diseases. An estimated $17 to $20 billion could help existing programs continue their good work and scale up at a speedy rate to meet growing demand. The more money donors invest, the better chance the Fund has to eliminate malaria deaths and ensure that no babies are born with HIV by 2015.

This August, we’ll do everything in our power to help educate you on the Global Fund. We’ve got a blog series with a chock-full of personal stories and unique voices; a question-answer session (that you’ll be able to participate in) with our resident global health expert, Todd Summers; a quiz to test your Global Fund smarts; and to end our campaign with a bang, a secret Twitter mission (more on that later).

But in turn we need you, our members, to take action alongside us. In many ways, the fate of global health progress is linked with the success of the Global Fund’s replenishment in October. This is a critical moment for the world’s poorest people, and we need your voices now more than ever.

So, stay tuned for more right here on our blog, our Facebook page and Twitter. And don’t forget to sign the petition, too.

TAGS: August partner update, Barack Obama, From ONE Members, From Our Partners, Global Fund, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis