Global Fund raises record US$13b to fight AIDS, TB and malaria

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with young people after announcing that the Global Fund’s goal to raise enough money to save eight million more lives. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:21pm, 18 Sep 2016Updated: 9:20pm, 18 Sep 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that a record US$12.9 billion has been raised for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years.

Trudeau made the announcement on the second and final day of an international donors’ meeting as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and others gathered in Montreal to determine how to replenish the major global health fund that combats AIDS and two of the world’s other leading killers in low-income countries.

Gates said he expects the figure to reach US$13 billion by the end of the year. He calls it a significant accomplishment at a time of tight budgets and a growing refugee crisis. He increased his individual commitment by 20 per cent to US$600 million. The US, the biggest donor, is contributing up to US$4.3 billion.

The Global Fund raised US$11.7 billion at its last conference in Washington in 2013.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Photo: Reuters

“When we sat down earlier this year and looked at all the tight budgets and all the refugees and the challenge of keeping these things on the front of people’s minds we didn’t know where we would end up,” Gates said.

“We’re hitting record amounts here and we’ll be able to save millions of lives.”