On 27 August, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria issued a press release praising Japan for its “outstanding leadership” in global health, demonstrated through its strong commitment of up to $1.08 billion to help end the three diseases by 2030 and build stronger and more resilient and sustainable systems for health, aimed at supporting the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC).

This article summarizes the press release for those who have not seen it and provides the most recent information about the pledges to date.

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced Japan’s commitment of up to $1.08 billion to the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) held in Tunisia. TICAD is an international conference that brings a variety of partners together to focus on development in Africa – a continent of vital importance for ending HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and where more than 70% of Global Fud resources are expended.

Prime Minister Kishida said, “The spread of COVID-19 has made it clear the importance of dealing with infectious diseases. I announce today that Japan will contribute up to $1.08 billion to the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment over the next three years. This is based on the idea of human security and to contribute to supporting measures against the major infectious diseases, such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and to strengthening health systems, especially in Africa.”

Japan’s pledge could represent as much as a 30% increase when compared with the previous three-year period, in line with the increased proportion of the total resources needed for the next three-year cycle. Japan strongly intends to leverage its technology, expertise and innovation to contribute to those in need through the Global Fund.

“By pledging up to $1.08 billion, the Government of Japan is truly demonstrating its commitment to ending these epidemics by 2030 and building stronger and more resilient systems for health that would enable countries to be better prepared for future pandemics and advance towards UHC,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “We are extremely grateful to Prime Minister Kishida for this strong leadership and to the people of Japan for this extraordinary support to accelerate the end of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, with a view to achieving UHC.”

Japan introduced infectious diseases to the agenda of the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit in 2000, paving the way for the establishment of the Global Fund in 2002. Since then, Japan has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund and is its fifth largest public donor, helping the partnership to save 44 million lives over the past 20 years and to invest $1.5 billion per year to build more resilient and sustainable systems for health. A long-standing advocate for UHC, Japan will host the G7 Summit in 2023.

The Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference, hosted by the United States government, will take place in New York on 19 September and aims to raise at least $18 billion to fund its next three-year cycle of grants. The Global Fund estimates that this amount is the minimum necessary to save 20 million lives, cut HIV, tuberculosis and malaria deaths by 64% and strengthen health and community systems to reinforce pandemic preparedness.

The Global Fund’s news page concerning pledges to date shows the following: