Two days before celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria received a welcome gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates announced his foundation will give a promissory note in the amount of $750 million to the Global Fund. Gates said tough economic times is no excuse for cutting aid to the world’s poorest.
The Gates Foundation has been a strong supporter of the funding agency since it began operations in 2002. The promised $750 million will bring the foundation’s total assistance to the Global Fund to $1.4 billion.
Meanwhile, key figures known to be staunch supporters of the fund will make an appearance at the World Economic Forum via a short film created by award-winning photographer and filmmaker Adrian Steirn to show the fund’s significance in global development. These include Bono, Jeffrey Sachs, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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