March 17, 2025
Washington – Friends is deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of global health champion Congresswoman Nita Lowey.
“Today we celebrate the life-saving contribution of Congresswoman Nita Lowey,” said Friends President and CEO Chris Collins. “Rep. Lowey worked tirelessly to ensure that AIDS, TB and malaria programming had the resources needed to accelerate the end of these epidemics. She was responsible for securing an increase in funding for the Global Fund for its sixth replenishment. Rep. Lowey was an indefatigable champion for global health and for women and girls, and we are grateful to her.”
Lowey, who was born in the Bronx and represented a district in Westchester, New York for 32 years, was the first woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
“As many of her colleagues in Congress have noted, Rep. Lowey was a trailblazer. She fought for what she believed in, and that included ending the AIDS, TB and malaria epidemics,” said Dr. Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Friends’ Board chair and past chairman and CEO of Rabin Martin, a global health impact consultancy. “She did everything in her power to make sure that the Global Fund and PEPFAR were robustly funded and resourced, which helped to save the lives of tens of millions of people around the world. We take inspiration from her efforts, and will miss her dearly.”
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ABOUT FRIENDS OF THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA:
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria advocates for U.S. support of the Global Fund, and the goal to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. For more information about Friends of the Global Fight, visit www.theglobalfight.org.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL FUND:
The Global Fund is a worldwide partnership to defeat HIV, TB and malaria and ensure a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all. The partnership has saved 65 million lives since its founding in 2002. It raises and invests more than US$5 billion a year to fight the deadliest infectious diseases, challenges the injustice that fuels them, and strengthens health systems and pandemic preparedness in more than 100 of the hardest hit countries. The Global Fund unites world leaders, communities, civil society, health workers and the private sector to find solutions that have the most impact, and it takes them to scale worldwide.