EMBARGOED

Released on 24 January 2012

3pm Geneva

 

SAUDI ARABIADONATES US $25,000,000 TO THE GLOBAL FUND
Geneva– The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria welcomes the recent announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of a contribution worth US $25 million. The contribution, to be paid in full by 2013, will bring the total contribution from Saudi Arabia to the Global Fund in the decade since it was established to US $53 million.
 
The announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in response to an appeal Mr. Ban had made on the Global Fund's behalf.
 
"I commend King Abdullah for his strong commitment to global health," said Mr. Ban. "The world has made great progress against infectious diseases in the past few years.  But unless we continue investing, millions of lives will remain at risk. This timely and generous contribution by the Government of Saudi Arabia to the Global Fund will advance our shared effort to win this fight."
Saudi Arabiais one of the main donors from the Gulf region to the Global Fund. In the Middle-East and North Africa, the Global Fund is currently supporting 20 countries and territories in their fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and malaria.
 
"I warmly welcome this contribution from Saudi Arabia," said Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, the Global Fund's Executive Director. "It sets an example for other countries, which can afford, to scale up investments in global health." The Global Fund is a unique, public-private partnership and international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents an innovative approach to international health financing. The Global Fund’s model is based on the concepts of country ownership and performance-based funding, which means that people in countries implement their own programs based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing on the condition that verifiable results are achieved.
 
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main financier of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 22.6 billion for more than 1,000 programs in 150 countries (as of 1 December 2011). To date, programs supported by the Global Fund are providing AIDS treatment for 3.3 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 8.6 million people and 230 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing with the three diseases.
 
 
For more information, please contact:
                                                                                         
ANDREW HURST
Media Relations Manager
Mobile: +41 79 561 6807
E-mail: andrew.hurst@theglobalfund.org
 
Information on the work of the Global Fund is available at www.theglobalfund.org
 
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