Devex CheckUp: The UK missed its Global Fund pledge deadline. Now what?

Back in September, Vicky Ford — then the international development minister at the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — detailed U.K. contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the years, and said that Britain will announce its pledge for the multilateral organization’s 2023-2025 replenishment cycle “in coming weeks.” Ford has since been replaced, along with the prime minister at that time, but the country’s Global Fund pledge remains at zero.

That leaves a big question mark on how much grant funding will be made available to countries when the Global Fund board meets on Nov. 16 and 17 to approve the total amount of main country allocations funding for the next three years.

• A Global Fund spokesperson tells Jenny the organization had asked donors that have not pledged during its replenishment conference to do so by the end of October as the organization needs to finalize preparations for the board meeting two weeks in advance. Technically, the U.K. and other donors can still make pledges until 2025. But only those announced before the Global Fund board meeting this November will be included in the main country allocations for 2023-2025.

• Without additional pledges, many countries will have to grapple with less funding for HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria — which has been a concern since donors failed to meet the Global Fund’s funding goal of $18 billion during its replenishment conference in September.

And it’s “very bad” for TB, which already receives the lowest funding allocation among the three diseases, says Dr. Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership. According to the organization’s calculations, without additional pledges from the U.K. and Italy, TB will receive just $640 million per year in the next three years — the lowest amount for the disease since 2016. Meanwhile, malaria funding is expected to be $500 million less in the next replenishment cycle, says Dr. Corine Karema, interim CEO at the RBM Partnership to End Malaria.

• And the U.K.’s lack of a pledge could affect U.S. funding as well. The U.S. pledged $6 billion to the Global Fund, but the full amount can only be unlocked if the organization raises at least $18 billion, as legislation limits U.S. funding to one-third of total Global Fund budget. The total commitments so far amount to $14.25 billion. The Global Fund spokesperson says the organization will continue fundraising over the coming weeks, months, and years in a bid to access the full U.S. commitment.

Global Fund pledge: ‘It’s not too late to take action,’ NGOs urge UK

Outgoing

Geneva folks have been talking of senior management changes at WHO for months now as Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus embarks on his second term in office, and names of those leaving the organization soon have been floating around. This week, Jenny learned that one of those leaving is Dr. Ren Minghui, who’s been with the organization for more than six years.

Minghui currently leads a huge portfolio at WHO, serving as assistant director-general for universal health coverage, and communicable and noncommunicable diseases. But he is expected to leave WHO by the end of November.

It’s not yet known who will replace him. WHO isn’t providing details on the upcoming changes, with a spokesperson only saying that “additional information will be shared in due course.”

Meanwhile on Wednesday, former French Ambassador for Global Health Stéphanie Seydoux announced on Twitter that she’s taking on the role of WHO envoy for multilateral affairs. The role has to date gone to French nationals. Michèle Boccoz, who’s now France’s ambassador to the Philippines, was the first one to take up the role, followed by Agnès Buzyn, formerly France’s minister of solidarity and health. Buzyn, who’s currently under investigation in France for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, served in the role very briefly. She currently heads the WHO Academy in Lyon.

Who else is leaving WHO, and who will be replacing them? Let us know what you know.

Exclusive: WHO top official set to leave amid senior management shakeup

Incoming

Speaking of executive changes, Alain Labrique, founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative, announced last month that he’s been appointed as director of WHO’s Department of Digital Health and Innovation. Anuradha Gupta, who’s been deputy CEO at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for eight years, has joined the Sabin Vaccine Institute as president of global immunization.

And remember Jim Yong Kim? He previously led the World Bank, and now will be the chancellor of the Rwanda-based University of Global Health Equity — stepping into the role previously held by his Partners In Health co-founder Paul Farmer.

Who's who in #globaldev: October 2022 executive appointments  (PRO)

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Repercussions

Two weeks ago, we wrote about British doctor Rosie James’ claims of being sexually assaulted by a WHO official at the World Health Summit in Berlin. Her tweet about the experience went viral, and reached WHO’s top management, with Tedros apologizing and encouraging her to report it to WHO for investigation. Now, a WHO spokesperson tells Reuters the “alleged perpetrator is on leave and the investigation is on-going.”

But in a Telegraph report, James — who consults for WHO — expressed her concerns about the investigation, recalling how U.N. whistleblowers have been treated in the past, and how it will affect her current job and future career prospects.

Related: Countries ask WHO to scale up reforms on sexual exploitation and abuse

Patently unfair

After moving from the U.S. to India, where she led a team of lawyers representing HIV-positive clients in court, Krishtel saw a disturbing pattern: Antiretroviral therapies that were available and affordable in wealthier parts of the world were totally out of reach for her clients. Patients who were parents would often be so sure that the diagnosis was a death sentence that they’d sign over their children to orphanages.

That led her to co-found the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge, or I-MAK, a nonprofit organization that since 2006 has fought for health equity in drug development and access by launching legal challenges against the medicine patent system.

Read more: How a MacArthur 'genius' fights patents to ensure access to medicines 

What we’re reading

Three experimental Ebola vaccine candidates are being shipped to Uganda to fight the ongoing outbreak. [The Hill]

Vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 has been found in sewage in Botswana, which saw the last recorded case of polio in 2004. [The Voice]

A new $15 million initiative, called RESET Alcohol, aims to address the harms caused by alcohol consumption, largely through increasing taxation. [Health Policy Watch]