What we want in 2022

Author:

Ida Hakizinka

Article Type:

Article Number: 1

Less pandemics and a successful Global Fund Seventh Replenishment

ABSTRACT The GFO editorial from Ida Hakizinka, Aidspan’s Executive Director, on what you can expect from the first of 2022’s issues of the Global Fund Observer.

Dear subscribers

Happy new year! And welcome to the first Global Fund Observer for 2022.

We are starting the year with a series of articles translated from our Francophone sister, the Observateur du Fond Mondial. Our first article covers the successful evaluation of the two-year old OFM project funded by L’Initiative; and we are very grateful for their support which means that we can bring you the best of the GFO as well as specific articles from the region in French. The evaluators concluded that the ‘OFM responds to the real needs of implementers, decision-makers and influencers in the West and Central African region for independent information and analysis’.

Another article from the Middle East and North Africa describes how the region launched an ICASA ‘Torch’ to rival the Olympic one, to showcase the work of civil society in four countries of the region with the Torch arriving back in South Africa at ICASA in December. This event was organized by the Global Fund Advocacy Network (GFAN) and is an innovative way of creating interest as the ‘caravan’ of activities and exhibits moved through the countries (A vibrant tribute to civil society and celebrating all the lives saved in the 20 years of the Global Fund’s existence through a travelling ‘caravan’ in the Middle East and North Africa region).

Still from the field, we bring you news of the M-Fund, the first ever insurance system for unregistered migrants living on the Burma-Thailand and Cambodia-Thailand borders (Ensuring Health Care Protection for All Migrants, and Health Security for All: Introducing the Migrant Fund (M-FUND)). The scheme’s founder explains how it works and how several prototypes have resulted in a fund that many would have thought impossible to design and implement. A best practice for addressing the health needs of migrants and refugees in other regions, perhaps?

Our penultimate article covers the virtual roundtable for the Supreme Audit Institutions project, held last week with over 95 participants representing stakeholders from the Global Fund, governments, both public and private sector financial institutions and service providers, and civil society actors. With the support of BACKUP Health, we are looking forward to launching the next phase of this project in 2022. Finally, we end with the latest audit report from the Office of the Inspector General, this one on Cameroon.

A taster for the next GFO, issue 409 out on 16 February: Samuel Muniu on anti-vaxxers in Africa and Alan Whiteside in reflective mode as he looks back on HIV and COVID-19. Two more articles from the OFM and another audit report from the OIG (these guys never sleep!), this one on procurement and supply management during the time of COVID. Plus some surprises!

Finally, throughout the world it is customary for families, friends and colleagues to get together to see the old year out and usher in the new, exchanging wishes about what they want to see happen or to have in the next year. We at Aidspan expect that most of you, like us, are glad to say goodbye to 2021 which has been so difficult for so many of us who have lost loved ones to the COVID-19 pandemic and experienced the economic and social impact on our work and families. Our work in public health has been disrupted and we have had to put in strenuous extra efforts, under the sometimes-impossible conditions of severe restrictions, not to lose the gains made in the three diseases and strengthening health systems over the past few years. Let us hope therefore that 2022 sees a world that has learnt to ‘manage’ COVID — after all, the three ‘old’ pandemics are more than enough to contend with!

If no more COVID is our first wish, surely our next one must be that the Global Fund sees a successful Seventh Replenishment. This can only be good for all of us and especially the beneficiaries supported by Global Fund-assisted programs.

And please do provide Likes (or Dislikes) and Comments under the articles: without feedback, we cannot improve or give you more (or less) of what you want (or don’t want).

If you enjoy the GFO and find it relevant to your work, please encourage your colleagues to subscribe!

Ida Hakizina

Aidspan