The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced new
results today that show significant gains in the treatment of people
living with HIV and in the prevention
of mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
The results show that 5.3
million people living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral therapy
under programs supported by the Global Fund, as of 1 July 2013, up from
4.2 million at the end of 2012. The results also show
a 21 percent increase in the number of women treated to prevent
mother-to-child transmission of HIV, in the first half of 2013. The
number of cases of malaria treated grew by 13 percent in the same
half-year.
“These results show that we can
have a transformative effect on these diseases, by working together,”
said Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “More people
affected by HIV today can go to work, send their
children to school and lead healthy lives thanks to the hard work of
all our partners.”
The increase of 1.1 million
people on ARV therapy since late 2012 reflected a significant
improvement in the quality of grant management in Nigeria and Malawi,
enabling these two countries to fulfill all stringent criteria
for inclusion of their national data in the Global Fund’s aggregated
results. Zimbabwe also contributed, by significantly raising coverage of
ARVs for new patients, to 11 percent of the increase.
In the first half of 2013, the
number of pregnant women living with HIV who have received a complete
course of ARV therapy to prevent transmission to their unborn children
under programs supported by the Global Fund grew
to 2.1 million from 1.7 million. Four countries accounted for 65
percent of the increase from the end of 2012: Mozambique (28 percent),
Zambia (15 percent), Tanzania (12 percent) and Zimbabwe (10 percent). In
these countries, efforts in the prevention of mother-to-child
transmission have accelerated sharply over the last year.
Big strides have also been made
in the fight against malaria, with 30 million insecticide-treated nets
distributed in the first half of 2013 under programs supported by the
Global Fund, taking the total number of nets
distributed to 340 million. The number of cases of malaria treated rose
to 330 million, a 13 percent increase.
Global Fund-supported TB
programs also continued to expand. Global Fund financing has
cumulatively supported detection and treatment of 11 million
smear-positive cases of TB, up from 9.7 million at the end of 2012. The
number of people treated for multidrug-resistant TB grew to 88,000 from
69,000 through Global-Fund supported programs. The World Health
Organization reported that 56,000 cases were enrolled in treatment of
multidrug-resistant TB globally in 2011, of which
Global Fund-supported programs accounted for about 22 percent. India
drove the leap forward, accounting for about 60 percent of the increase
at the end of 2012.
The Global Fund was created in
2002 to dramatically increase resources for the fight against the three
pandemics. Today it supports programs in more than 140 countries.
Together with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund is one of the leading
international financial supporters for HIV prevention and treatment.
Through innovative partnerships
with governments, civil society, UN agencies, private sectors, and key
affected communities, the Global Fund has proven an effective vehicle
that brings together collaborative efforts to
contribute in fighting the three diseases.
The Global Fund will convene a
once-every-three-years pledging conference, known as the Global Fund's
Fourth Replenishment, in late 2013.
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