What Has the Private Sector Contributed to the Global Fund?
Countries, the European Commission, and other public entities have provided billions to the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria since it was founded in 2002. But the private sector also has made significant contributions to the Global Fund’s effort to combat HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, according to a report co-authored by Abt Global in collaboration with TropMed Pharma and GBCHealth.
The Global Fund, which provides grants in 151 countries, is the largest funder of health programs to combat HIV and AIDS, TB, and malaria. It is a major contributor to efforts against these three target diseases worldwide, accounting for 82 percent of the total international financing for TB, 50 percent for malaria, and 21 percent for AIDS.
The report found that the private sector contributed approximately $1.2 billion worth of non-cash contributions to the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from 2010 to 2012, according to the year-long analysis, “Beyond Cash: More Than Money.”
Specifically, the report found that the private sector contributed over $930 million worth of research and development to the Global Fund from 2010 to 2012. This includes innovations ranging from relatively straightforward new formulas and presentations to meet patients’ needs in recipient countries, to the long-term discovery, development, and deployment of new interventions to replace existing, less-effective ones.
The private sector also provided $180 million in indirect support and health system strengthening from 2010 to 2012, the report found, including improving diagnostic testing laboratories and training health care workers in disease knowledge or supply chain management. The research team’s methodology involved surveys of private sector organizations, interviews with Global Fund Secretariat staff, and examination and analysis of publicly available information and data. The report’s Annex also contains a comparison of Global Fund grantee procurements, including pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, with a range of market prices for the same items.
“This is the most comprehensive description and valuation of the many ways in which the private health sector contributes to the Global Fund,” said Elaine Baruwa, an Abt senior associate in International Health who worked on the report with Michele Abbott, an Abt analyst. “In doing so, the report provides many stakeholders with critical approaches that the Global Fund can use to increase the participation of the private sector at the country level. The increasing critical participation can greatly improve the sustainability of HIV, TB, Malaria and health systems strengthening activities in Global Fund countries.”
The report’s authors provided the research to the PSD to the Global Fund for discussion during the latest funding replenishment which, as part of the Global Fund Board’s Donor Bloc, is responsible for mobilizing and contributing the funds necessary for the Global Fund to do its work. These resources are collected through a replenishment mechanism every three years. The fourth replenishment, to cover 2014 to 2016, was held in December 2013 and raised an initial amount of US$12 billion, the largest amount committed in its history.
This report is part of Abt’s pro bono contribution to the Global Fund. Ann Lion, vice president for International Health, has also completed a two-year term on the Private Sector Delegation to the Global Fund’sBoard.
For more insights view the report.
