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Relentless pursuit of an equitable world

The Optimist

Global Health Financing


Unprecedented support paves the way for progress

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2019 Progress


This year saw the largest amount ever raised to tackle HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, which together still claim millions of lives every year. An unprecedented response from the international community enabled the Global Fund to secure $14.02 billion to support delivery of tools, treatments and programs to combat the diseases. And it wasn’t just donor countries that stepped up. Countries that bear the highest burden from infectious diseases also committed to increase domestic spending on healthcare systems and initiatives, which will bring benefits beyond preventing and treating specific diseases by improving people’s overall health and wellbeing. What made this record result even more remarkable was that the following month, donors pledged $2.6 billion in the UAE toward the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) strategy to overcome the final obstacles to ending polio for good. This year, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, also set out its investment case for renewed funding, which they hope to secure in London next June. The success of the Global Fund replenishment owed much to the leadership of President Macron, who hosted the conference in Lyon, and the GPEI’s pledging success wouldn’t have been possible without His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. These funding breakthroughs were especially critical at a time when it's proven difficult to keep global health at the top of the agenda.

—Joe Cerrell
Managing Director, Global Policy and Advocacy



Leaders at the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland

The most important story you missed in 2019

By Mark Suzman

Read more on Project Syndicate
Mother with infant in DRC camp

Found in Translation: How innovations in R&D can solve the world's greatest health challenges

By Trevor Mundel

Read more on Medium
Mark Suzman at Goalkeepers 2018

A new era of collaboration in philanthropy

By Mark Suzman

Read more on LinkedIn
Polio vaccinator marks down children that have been vaccinated

Measuring the value of health

By Damian Walker

Read more
Bill Gates delivers keynote address at the 2019 Joint Rotary District "Come Together" Conference Dinner

Why polio is still around—and why we can eradicate it

By Bill Gates

Read more on Gates Notes

Measuring the value of health


 

 

14B Dollar amount raised by Global Fund to save 16 million lives over the next 3 years

1 Only one strain of wild poliovirus remains globally after type-3 declared eradicated on World Polio Day

700M Number of doses of vaccines delivered by Gavi providing protection against 17 different diseases

 

 

In case you missed it


 

'Day Zero': Inside Nigeria's response to the 2016 polio outbreak

In 2016, as Nigeria prepared to announce two years without a case of wild poliovirus, two children in northern Nigeria tested positive for polio. In an instant, the country’s track record of going 730 days polio-free was reset to zero. Learn how organizations in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) worked together to contain the outbreak and change the odds that Nigeria could be free of wild polio.

Read more ›

 

 

2019 in Tweets



Dr. Matshidiso Moeti tweet
Dr. Raj Punjabi tweet 
Mona Almoayyed tweet 
Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng tweet 

 

 

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What's Next?


As a sage once said, “Making predictions is hard—especially about the future.” But one thing for certain in 2020 is that programs and policies to improve people’s health will need to be supported financially and politically. There is the exciting prospect that next year will see the entire WHO African region certified free of wild polio, and a new vaccine could be deployed as part of efforts to end all forms of the virus. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will also hold its multi-year replenishment in the UK, with the promise that another 300 million children will be immunized against infectious diseases. And governments everywhere will make critical decisions about how to balance competing demands for investments in health, education, infrastructure and other priorities. But we know that when health improves, life improves by every measure. That’s why we remain optimistic for continued donor and domestic support for better health, as well as increased collaboration between institutions with lessons learned from tackling one disease applied to another. For example, surveillance systems built for polio eradication used to identify and respond to outbreaks of other diseases, and funding provided by the Global Fund used to improve health systems. With 10 years to go to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, 2020 will be a decisive year to accelerate progress, including reducing child deaths, turning the tide on the epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and expanding access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines for all.

—Joe Cerrell
Managing Director, Global Policy and Advocacy