On September 18, 2022, Friends of the Global Fund, Japan (a JCIE initiative), Friends of the Global Fund Europe, and Friends of the Global Fight (US) jointly hosted a hybrid event at the Marriott Marquis near Times Square covering “The Global Fund’s Reach in Fragile, Crisis Settings: Defeating HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria Everywhere.” This event featured speakers including Chris Collins (Friends of the Global Fight), Kieran Daly (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Bintou Dembélé (ARCAD-SIDA Mali), Mark Edington (The Global Fund), Barbara Lee (US State Representative, California), and Sylvie Chantereau (former Friends of the Global Fund Europe).
There was also a high-level panel moderated by Suomi Sakai (former The Global Fund) that included Satoshi Ezoe (MOFA, Japan), Hubert Julien-Laferrière (French National Assembly), Andriy Klepikov (Alliance for Public Health, Ukraine), Niluka Perera (GFAN AP, Sri Lanka), and Mit Philips (Médecins Sans Frontières). With simultaneous translations in French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, speakers engaged in a panel and Q&A preceding the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment on September 21.
Mr. Collins and Mr. Daly welcomed participants and audience members with remarks on the impact and success of the Global Fund, highlighting the Global Fund’s role in saving 50 million lives, as noted in the recently released 2022 Results Report. Mr. Daly also pointed to the diversity of partners’ strengths and The Global Fund’s commitment to collaboration with partners on the ground as key factors in its 20 years of success.
While speaking on the Global Fund’s many carefully coordinated and compliant approaches to providing aid in challenging operating environments (also known as fragile states), Mr. Edington specifically highlighted its operations in Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Introduced by FGFJ’s Assistant Director Satoko Itoh, Dr. Dembele stressed the large security crisis in Mali and how despite most of the regions around the country are considered “unsafe,” the Global Fund is still able to reach all of the communities across Mali.
Emina Rye-Florentz, the Executive Director of Fund of the Global Fund (FGF), introduced the panelists, and in the ensuing panel discussion moderated by Dr. Sakai, participants shared their country’s or organization’s experience with The Global Fund. Dr. Ezoe particularly noted the close relationship between The Global Fund and Japan, which had reaffirmed its commitment to global healthcare last month through their pledge of up to US$1.08 billion to the Global Fund at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8).
Read more in the event report on the FGFJ website.
