France has committed to provide 1.08 billion euros (USD1.4 billion) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the pledge Sept. 20, making France the first country to commit funding to the Global Fund’s 2011-2013 replenishment round, according to a news release from the organization.
France is the second-largest donor to the fund, after the U.S., with a total contribution of some 2.9 billion euros since the organization was created in 2002.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who heads the fund’s current replenishment round, welcomed France’s commitment, calling it a show of “leadership and vision.”
Meanwhile, the Born HIV Free campaign is due to launch Tuesday (Sept. 21) an initiative aimed at “signposting world leaders in the direction of decisive backing for the Global Fund and its work.”
The initiative, which coincides with this week’s Millennium Development Goals summit in New York, will use mock road signs with HIV facts, which will be positioned on corners of strategic Manhattan road intersections.
Anti-poverty advocacy ONE will also launch today (Sept. 21) a public service announcement that features pregnant women calling for an end to mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015. The announcement forms part of a broader campaign to urge world leaders attending the MDG summit to finance the work of the Global Fund.
Devex News – live breaking news coverage of the Millennium Development Goals and the Sept. 20-22 U.N. MDG summit in New York.
