94 HEALTHCARE
17. MILLION. LIVES.
In VOICES on 21 September 2015
Mark Dybul, Executive Director, The Global Fund
“Partners in global health
came together, to fight
back. By working together,
by pooling resources and
expertise, and by involving
people affected by the
diseases, civil society,
the private sector and
governments, we have
made progress way beyond
what seemed possible.”
Not long
ago, AIDS,
tuberculosis and
malaria looked
unstoppable.
In many
countries, AIDS
devastated an
entire generation, leaving
countless orphans and
shattered communities.
Malaria killed young children
and pregnant women unable
to protect themselves from
mosquitoes or to access the
right medicine. Tuberculosis
unfairly afflicted the poor, as
it had for millennia.
Partners in global health came
together, to fight back. By working
together, by pooling resources and
expertise, and by involving people
affected by the diseases, civil society,
the private sector and governments,
we have made progress way beyond
what seemed possible.
Today, the Global Fund issued a
Results Report, showing that health
investments made through the
Global Fund have saved 17 million
lives, expanding opportunity and
achieving greater social justice for
families and communities worldwide.
Even better, the report shows that
advances in science and innovative
solutions are accelerating progress
at an ever faster-rate, getting us on
track to reach 22 million lives saved
by the end of next year.
But it’s no time to celebrate. We are
only half way there. Tremendous
challenges in global health still await
us. Adolescent girls are contracting
HIV at a terrible rate in southern
Africa. TB/HIV co-infection is on the
rise, as is multidrug-resistant TB.
Gains made against malaria could
be lost if we don’t expand prevention
and treatment programs.
We have to concentrate on several
key areas, including focus on
adolescent girls and women,
advancing human rights, and
building resilient and sustainable
systems for health.
Many more lives are still at risk. We
must seize the momentum, embrace
ambition and move faster to end
HIV, TB and malaria as epidemics.
Let’s remember that it has been a
magnificent display of the human
spirit that has gotten us so far. The
greatest reward for this collective
achievement lies not in the massive
number – 17 million – but in the
impact every life saved has for a
loved one, family, friend, community
and nation.
A life saved from AIDS is a mother
who can raise her daughter and
teach her about staying safe from
HIV. A life saved from TB is a father
who can return to work and earn
a living to support his family. A life
saved from malaria is a child who
thrives beyond her 5th birthday and
becomes a doctor, or perhaps the
next President of Liberia.
The achievements of the Global
Fund partnership are the results
of determination to make our
world better and more just, with
contributions by governments,
civil society, the private sector and
people affected by HIV, TB and
malaria. The people whose lives
have been saved owe their thanks
most of all to the partners on the
ground, who do the hard work of
preventing and treating and caring
for those affected by these diseases.
As world leaders gather next
week to formulate Sustainable
Development Goals, as building
blocks for improving the lives of
billions of people, the achievements
of global health can serve as a
model for what can be achieved
when communities
come together and aim
for common goals, like
a world free from the
burden on AIDS, TB,
and malaria.