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Sign the petition to stop the cut to the Swedish contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
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DEADLINE FRIDAY 29 JANUARY
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The Swedish government has cut by 35% funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for 2016. The total contribution for this year was reduced from SEK 850 million to SEK 550 million.
This reduction is planned as part of overall aid cuts as the Swedish government has decided to allow up to 30% of the 2016 aid budget to cover domestic refugee costs.
There is an opportunity in early spring for the government to re-consider this decision, with the adoption of the so-called ‘spring change budget.’ This could be adopted in early April.
It is therefore critical to put pressure on the Swedish government NOW to reverse this decision and to ensure an ambitious pledge to the Global Fund in the replenishment later this year.
For more information, read the UN’s response to the potential shift of funds from development assistance to refugees within Nordic states and the Netherlands.
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OPEN LETTER FROM CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD TO:
His Excellency Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of Sweden
Your Excellency,
We write you on a very urgent matter, namely the possibility to fundamentally alter the spread of major poverty-related communicable diseases. Sweden is a founding member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) and its lead Scandinavian donor. The Global Fund has demonstrated the global potential to stop the spread of these devastating diseases and to save lives.
Therefore, we are shocked to learn that the Swedish government will cut its support for the Global Fund from SEK 850 million to SEK 550 million in 2016. Sweden’s significant pledge of SEK 2,5 billion for the period 2014-2016 has already been allocated to countries. A SEK 300 million cut is a serious threat to our ability to end the epidemics and will have a negative effect on many people’s lives.
To date, the Global Fund has saved 17 million lives. Today, due to the Global Fund’s support to countries, more than 8 million people are receiving lifesaving treatment for HIV/AIDS, 13 million people have been tested and treated for tuberculosis, and 548 million people now have a net to protect themselves from malaria. With a full SEK 850 million a year, Sweden can save up to 60,000 lives through programs supported by the Global Fund and avert up to 2.3 million new infections across the three diseases.
The advances made against the three diseases in the last decade are a great example of what global solidarity and concerted action can achieve for millions of people. As civil society organizations from all over the world, we acknowledge and command the role of the positive forces joined together in the Global Fund, especially in reaching key and vulnerable populations, including women and girls, that suffer the most from these epidemics.
Recent data indicate that the end of the three epidemics as global public health threats can be reached by 2030 if we scale up our effort now. At the same time, it is evident that if we slow down the response, all three epidemics will re-surge and leave future generations without the hope of a world free of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
We urge the Swedish government to stand by its global health commitments and to not make cuts in its contribution to the Global Fund at this crucial moment.
cc: Isabella Lövin, Minister for International Development Cooperation
Ulrika Modéer, State Secretary to Minister for International Development Cooperation
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