On the heels of extraordinarily successful results announced by four coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine developers within three weeks of one another, the question of whether developing countries will be “left behind” continues. COVAX (one of the three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator), a massively funded global collaboration involving 187 countries, aims to ensure that they…
GFO: Where did the idea of conducting this study on key populations and COVID-19 come from? Roy Wakim (RW): The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been particularly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), more specifically Egypt, Maghreb countries and Yemen. An initial webinar on key populations and COVID-19 was organized by the [MENA] key populations’ platform,…
As the world observes World AIDS Day on 1 December 2020 with the theme of “global solidarity and shared responsibility” and as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) presents the new targets for 2025, it is also a good time to reflect on the challenges to come, from a “global health” perspective. According to UNAIDS, 26 million people living…
GFO: What progress have we made with the global response to malaria? RG, BR: According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2020 report on malaria, global malaria mortality fell by 60 percent over the 2000–2019 period. The Africa region has seen a decrease in the annual number of malaria deaths from 680 000 in 2000 to 384 000 in 2019. Southeast Asian countries…
On behalf of Aidspan and the Global Fund Observer (French and English editions), I would like to thank all our readers and partners for their continued support this year. As 2020 draws to a close, we wish you all a restful holiday season and peace, joy, and prosperity throughout the coming year, 2021. This edition of the Global Fund Observer will be…
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the World Malaria Report 2020: 20 years of global progress and challenges on 30 November 2020. The report details progress made in the fight against malaria in the last two decades (between 2000 and 2019) and highlights progress against global malaria targets. According to the report, the world has made great progress in the last two…
The African Union convened a series of virtual meetings of health and finance ministers from central, North, and West Africa and regional economic organizations to discuss domestic resource mobilization for health amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on 17, 23, and 24 November 2020, respectively. The objectives included a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 on African economies and…
The RAME, Réseau d’Accès aux Médicaments Essentiels (Access to Essential Medicines Network), commissioned a study in 2019 on community organizations’ good practices, opportunities, and limitations in ensuring continuity of care in challenging operational environments (COEs). Five countries, classified as COEs by the Global Fund, were selected to participate in the study: Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. RAME…
In most countries, Global Fund grants are highly commoditized as the largest proportion of the grant investments are used to pay for health and non-health commodities. This means that the supply chain, together with procurement, absorb a significant proportion of grant funds. The extent to which countries handle these two areas is critical to achieving the Global Fund’s mission. As…
Only two of the 26 reporting countries in the Global HIV Prevention Coalition are “virtually on track” to achieve a 75% reduction in new infections by 2020, according to country scorecards in the Coalition’s Second Progress Report published this year. The report presents a detailed picture of progress, achievements and critical gaps related to HIV prevention globally. Although new adult…
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