France, Italy announce robust pledges ahead of Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment

Two major developments took place in global health this week, with the governments of France and Italy both demonstrating strong leadership in the fights against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through robust pledges to the Global Fund’s upcoming Fifth Replenishment.

On June 26, the government of France announced a pledge of €1.08 billion – a steady commitment consistent with France’s previous pledge – to the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment, the three-year funding period beginning in 2017. On June 27, the government of Italy announced a pledge of €130 million for the 2017-2019 period, representing a 30 percent increase over Italy’s previous contribution of €100 million.

To date, more than $3.46 billion has been pledged for the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment, including announcements from the European Commission, and the governments of Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

Ahead of the Fifth Replenishment Conference to be hosted by the government of Canada on Sept. 16, these new pledges serve as an important signal to world leaders – that it is critical for countries to work together to end these epidemics for good.

The Global Fund aims to raise $13 billion through the Fifth Replenishment cycle, a funding level that will support programming to save up to 8 million lives, avert up to 300 million new infections across the three diseases, and lead to broad economic gains of up to $290 billion.