Global Fund and UNAIDS: Toward an enhanced partnership?

Today, the global community is at a crossroads in the fight against HIV and AIDS: For the first time since the start of the epidemic, an AIDS-free generation is within reach. Such is the message conveyed by major international organizations fighting to stem the growth of the pandemic worldwide. Important gains have been achieved in the past decade — new HIV infections have fallen 38 percent since 2001, while AIDS-related deaths have decreased 35 percent since they peaked in 2005 — fuelling global optimism that the tools now exist to overcome HIV and AIDS. But putting an end to the epidemic will require enhanced commitment and funding from all stakeholders. In this spirit, UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to renew their cooperation agreement in early December — a move that both organizations hope will be the tipping point in reversing the HIV and AIDS epidemic. A long-standing partnership Since its creation by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002, the Global Fund has been working closely with UNAIDS to help countries tackle their HIV and AIDS epidemic. Their respective roles are naturally complementary and, over the years, successive cooperation agreements have increasingly leveraged the strengths of both organizations. As the world’s largest multilateral donor for HIV and AIDS efforts, the Global Fund provides countries with the resources they need to scale up programs that work. Such an approach requires strong technical knowledge and reliable epidemiological data — two key areas in which UNAIDS can provide unmatched strategic analysis and policy guidance. The very nature of UNAIDS — a program combining the strengths of 11 U.N. agencies — provides it with a unique capacity to strengthen national responses and provide technical support to countries seeking financial support from the Global Fund. In particular, UNAIDS assists in the funding application, grant implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Through needs and resource mapping exercises, UNAIDS also helps countries ensure that Global Fund resources do not duplicate, undermine or conflict with existing national HIV and AIDS programs. “UNAIDS has the technical expertise, and the Global Fund supports programs with financing,” Seth Faison, head of communications at the Global Fund, explained. “That coordination has worked well so far and the new agreement will accelerate this development.” Acting as one? In spite of being yet another commitment to greater coordination, the latest partnership agreement between the Global Fund and UNAIDS — which will be revisited at the end of 2016 — isn’t exactly business as usual. Articulated around the ambitious objective of ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic as a global health threat by 2030, the agreement seals both organizations’ joint evolution toward a merged strategy and agenda. As previous experience in the AIDS response has demonstrated, time-bound targets accelerate progress toward ending the epidemic. This recently led UNAIDS to launch a so-called fast-track approach comprising three major targets to be achieved by 2020: 90 percent of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90 percent of people who know their HIV-positive status on treatment, and 90 percent of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads. To reach these 90-90-90 targets, UNAIDS emphasized the need to optimize support for countries, countries, cities and communities most affected by HIV to achieve the greatest impact — a priority that the Global Fund has gradually embraced in the past few years. “Coordination has sharply increased in 2013 and 2014. UNAIDS has played a key role in planning and implementing the new funding model,” Faison explained to Devex. Largely influenced by UNAIDS’ 2011-2015 strategy and its investment framework, the Global Fund’s new model is designed to target the most critical interventions, thus offering increased value for money and highest impact both for implementing countries and donors. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.