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From visa denials to high-level no-shows to missing funding pledges, the Canadian government is facing harsh criticism for dropping the ball as host of the world’s largest conference on HIV/AIDS.
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Also in today’s edition: We ask why childhood vaccination rates are falling, and take a look inside India’s new invite-only club for wealthy donors.
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On Sunday, the head of the International AIDS Society, Adeeba Kamarulzaman, extended a personal invitation to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address the closing ceremony of the International AIDS Conference, which Canada is currently hosting in Montreal.
It’s starting to look like it will take an appearance by Trudeau for the country to salvage its reputation as a global health leader.
“Canada not only agreed to host the world’s largest and most influential conference on HIV, but also committed to high-level government representation as part of the partnership. Minister Harjit S. Sajjan withdrew his participation on the eve of the conference opening,” Kamarulzaman wrote, referring to Canada’s minister of international development.
Many expected the Canadian government would use this conference to announce its pledge for the Global Fund’s seventh replenishment. The fund is seeking $18 billion for three years of programming for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in advance of a replenishment conference to be hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in September.
Advocates have called on the Canadian government to put forward 1.2 billion Canadian dollars — about $1 billion — and some hoped Montreal might be the moment. No such luck.
But some folks I’ve talked to in Montreal are seeing a silver lining in Canada’s decision not to announce a pledge right now. With so many other signals that their hearts weren’t really in this conference, it’s hard to imagine the Canadians would have arrived with a game-changing amount of money. The decision to delay a Global Fund pledge — presumably until September — could be a sign they are under diplomatic pressure to look for more room in the budget.
“The moment is not as important as the money,” Leigh Raithby of Results Canada told me on Sunday.
ICYMI: AIDS conference exclusion is 'unjust' and 'wrong,' says UNAIDS chief
Devex CheckUp: The massive AIDS conference that soured before it began
Hold on tight
Meanwhile, Peter Sands, the Global Fund’s executive director, is riding what he described to me in Montreal as the replenishment “roller coaster” for the next seven weeks.
Sands said that without a full $18 billion replenishment the goal of ending AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria by 2030 will not be achieved.
The U.S. Senate recently gave the Global Fund a boost with its endorsement of $6 billion for the next three years — but because of a law limiting America’s contribution to one-third, that full amount will only be unlocked if other donors come up with the rest.
I asked Sands — who signed on for a second four-year term in 2021 — what it’s like to go through this process every three years.
“It seems like a very short window between one replenishment and another,” he told me. “On the other hand, if you go for a longer window, you run the risk of a kind of sticker shock problem. The amount you have to ask for — it's already a very large sum of money.”
Sands said his strategy this year is more of what he pushed three years ago — increasing the proportion of funding from middle-sized donors and the private sector in order to dial back the Global Fund’s overdependence on the Group of Seven major industrial nations. Stay tuned for more from our conversation.
In the club
My colleague Stephanie Beasley has a fascinating look inside GivingPi, an invite-only family philanthropy network from India that pledges to raise $1 billion a year for global development. Stephanie writes that this network “could open the door for the ultra-wealthy to give more as the gulf widens further with the country’s poorest.”
It’s spearheaded by Venture philanthropy fund Dasra and its members include prominent Indian philanthropists such as Rohini Nilekani. And yes, you guessed it, GivingPi is also supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Read more: Inside India's invite-only club for megadonors (Pro)
+ Devex Pro members can also watch how philanthropic foundations can invest to improve the planet. Not gone Pro yet? Start your 15-day free trial.
‘A very sobering assessment’
A new analysis of vaccination rates in 57 countries by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance found “the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years.”
My colleague Sara Jerving reports that these declines cannot be fully attributed to the health system strains of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, but rather were primarily driven by declines in large countries. Seth Berkley, head of Gavi, said he is particularly concerned about the 15% decline in HPV vaccination since 2019.
Read more: Gavi is 'very concerned' with routine vaccination rates
+ Join us: On Aug. 3 at 9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. CET), Devex in partnership with Open Society Foundations will explore what’s needed to advance autonomous vaccine manufacturing on the African continent. Save your spot.
Never tell me the odds
Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, says there are three major factors that have brought about dangerous conditions repeatedly in the past: the creation of an enormous amount of debt; growing conflict between entrenched groups as a result of heightened inequality; and the rise of a great power that challenges the existing world order.
Since those factors sound pretty familiar at the moment, Dalio told attendees of Devex World last month that he puts the odds of both “a type of civil war” inside the United States and international conflict at about 40% respectively.
Ray Dalio: The growing threats of 'deglobalization' and autocracy
+ Catch up on all of our coverage of Devex World 2022.
In other news
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Africa, which follows Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's visit, will take place this month as part of efforts to boost diplomacy on the continent. [Al Jazeera]
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo opened fire Sunday morning at the country's border with Uganda, killing two. [UN News]
U.S. envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer met with Ethiopian officials to discuss peace talks and unrestricted humanitarian aid delivery. [VOA]
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
