GLOBAL FUND CRUCIAL TO ACHIEVE AIDS-FREE GENERATION, US GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR SAYS

Author:

Download PDF Eric Goosby spells out PEPFAR’s commitment to country ownership and describes how the Global Fund and PEPFAR work together The Global Fund is an indispensable tool for the world to achieve an AIDS-free generation, according to the US Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Eric Goosby. Dr Goosby made the remarks in a speech delivered on 25 June. He said…

Article Type:

Article Number:

ABSTRACT In a speech on 25 June, Ambassador Eric Goosby, the US Global AIDS Coordinator, explained PEPFAR's commitment to country ownership and described how the Global Fund and PEPFAR work together.

Eric Goosby spells out PEPFAR’s commitment to country ownership and describes how the Global Fund and PEPFAR work together

The Global Fund is an indispensable tool for the world to achieve an AIDS-free generation, according to the US Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Eric Goosby. Dr Goosby made the remarks in a speech delivered on 25 June. He said that the Global Fund offers a robust multilateral response that is particularly targeted toward meeting the needs at the country level.

Dr Goosby said that donors have a shared responsibility to ensure that all resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible. He added that with the support and encouragement of the US, the Global Fund has taken a number of actions in recent months to recommit itself to this goal. “The Fund’s new General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo has dramatically reoriented the Fund to assume a role as an active investor.”

In his speech, Dr Goosby talked about PEPFAR’s commitment to country ownership and about how the Global Fund and PEPFAR are working together to support country responses to AIDS, TB and malaria.

Dr Goosy quoted US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, who said in a speech in Oslo, Norway, also in June, that “country ownership in health is the end state, where a nation’s efforts are led, implemented, and eventually paid for by its government, communities, civil society and the private sector.” Dr Goosby said that the overall leadership role belongs to the country, not to external partners. “The United States cannot be the ministry of health for the countries in which we work.”

Dr Goosby acknowledged that in the past PEPFAR has not always put country ownership first. “There’s no doubt that the move toward country ownership and PEPFAR is a work in progress, but it is well underway.”

Dr Goosby said that PEPFAR and the Global Fund are increasingly engaging in joint planning and now co-finance many components of country responses. “The reality is that we need both PEPFAR and the Global Fund resources to be successful, but they need to be convened by the country.”

As the US Global AIDS Coordinator at the State Department, Dr Goosby is responsible for coordinating, overseeing, and managing all aspects of PEPFAR, and for overseeing US government engagement with the Global Fund. His speech was given at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., and was titled, “AIDS 2012: Key Lessons from a Decade of Action on Global AIDS, and the Way Forward.” A copy of the speech is available on the PEPFAR website here.