In 2020, the fund disbursed $4.2 billion and approved an additional $980 million for COVID-19 to continue the fight against HIV, TB and malaria.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a “devastating” impact on the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in 2020, according to a report released Wednesday by the Global Fund.
“To mark our 20th anniversary, we hoped to focus this year’s report on the extraordinary stories of courage and resilience that have led to the progress we have made against HIV, TB and malaria over the past two decades. , made that possible,” said Peter Sands, Global Fund’s executive director.
“But the 2020 numbers force a different focus. They confirm what we feared when COVID-19 might hit,” he said.
“The impact of COVID-19 on the fight against HIV, TB and malaria and the communities we support has been devastating. For the first time in the history of the Global Fund, major program results have gone backwards.”
The fund said there has been a “significant” decline in HIV testing and prevention services.
Compared to 2019, the number of people reached with HIV prevention and treatment declined by 11% last year, while HIV testing declined by 22%, with most countries halting new treatments.
Still, the number of people receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy for HIV rose 8.8% to 21.9 million in 2020, “despite COVID-19”.
The report said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the fight against TB around the world was “devastating”.
The report said that in countries where the Global Fund has invested, there has been a 19 percent drop in the number of people seeking treatment for drug-resistant TB.
The fund calculated that about 4.7 million people were treated for TB in 2020, about a million fewer than in 2019.
The report found that interventions to combat malaria “have been less severely affected by COVID-19 than the other two diseases.”
“Thanks to adaptation measures and the diligence and innovation of community health workers, prevention activities have stagnated or increased compared to 2019.”
The number of mosquito nets distributed increased by 17 percent to 188 million, and structures covered by indoor residual spraying increased by three percent.
Nevertheless, the Global Fund – which brings together governments, multi-party agencies, bilateral partners, civil society groups, people affected by disease and the private sector – said its “rapid and resolute response to COVID-19 has made even more prevented a worse situation. Result”.
In 2020, the fund disbursed $4.2 billion to continue the fight against HIV, TB and malaria, and approved an additional $980 million in funding to respond to COVID-19.
The Global Fund said it has saved 44 million lives since its founding in 2002 and reduced deaths from AIDS, TB and malaria by 46 percent in the countries it invests in.
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