‘Efforts to promote global health and education save lives, improve people’s quality of life and contribute to economic growth and development. Since 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has helped save more than 32 million lives. The Global Fund aims to save a further 16 million lives by the end of 2022,’ said Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
The Global Fund provides support to improve health services and health information, and also works to change attitudes, not least when it comes to the rights and health situation of girls and women. Access to education is a key factor for success. Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced Norway’s increased support for the Global Fund in front of thousands of participants at the Global Citizen event in New York today.
‘Promoting good health for all is vital if we are to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. We are making progress in the fight to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics, but if we are to succeed, we need to significantly step up our efforts. That is why Norway is now increasing its support for the Global Fund to NOK 2.02 billion for the period 2020-2022,’ Ms Solberg said.
This increased contribution from Norway is NOK 20 million more than the already high level of Norwegian support – NOK 2 billion – that has been provided for the current three-year period.
The Global Fund is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases. In the period 2017-2019, the Fund has disbursed over USD 12 billion for efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, to improve health systems and to promote human rights in more than 100 countries. A third of the funding has been allocated to efforts to strengthen national health systems. The authorities and civil society in the countries concerned play an active role in the partnership, and the aim is for the countries themselves to provide a larger share of the funding as they become more prosperous.
The Global Fund is the most important channel for Norwegian support for international efforts to fight tuberculosis, and is also an important partner in the work to promote the human rights of vulnerable groups, such as LGBTIQ people. Since the Global Fund was established in 2002, Norway has provided a total of NOK 7.3 billion in support. This makes Norway the Fund’s 11th largest public donor.
Source: government.no / Norway Today
