Stop TB Canada joins partners at Toronto Pride
Stop TB Canada joined partners to #FightForWhatCounts at Toronto Pride last weekend.
Pride is a moment to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community as well as advocate for the changes needed to protect the health of this community. The LGBTQ+ community is disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and continues to face human rights barriers in the fight against this epidemic. These barriers are fueled by stigma and discrimination, punitive laws, and violence which prevent them from accessing healthcare services.
Last weekend, Stop TB Canada and partners took part in Toronto Pride to highlight the heavy burden faced by the LGBTQ+ community and the role that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria plays in protecting the health of this community from epidemics like HIV. With tuberculosis being the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, Stop TB Canada is committed to advocating on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community to ensure that these individuals can get the care and support they need.
The Global Fund & key populations
To reach key populations, the Global Fund and partners take a differentiated care approach – one that makes services more accessible and tailored. Working through its partners, the Global Fund engages key populations where and how they most need it. It supports comprehensive HIV programs; condom distribution; HIV testing, treatment and care; demand generation and education around safer sex, sexual orientation and gender identity; and it addresses stigma, discrimination and violence, community empowerment, legal literacy and legal support, among others.
#FightForWhatCounts
The Global Fund has saved more than 44 million lives since its inception in 2002, and reduced the combined death rate from HIV, TB and malaria by more than half in the countries in which it invests. This year, the Global Fund launched its Seventh Replenishment fundraising campaign to raise at least USD$18 billion to fight the three diseases and build stronger systems for health, and thus reinforce pandemic preparedness. At least US$18 billion would save 20 million lives, cut the death rate from HIV, TB and malaria by 64% and strengthen health systems to build a healthier, more equitable world. We must fight for a world where health is accessible to all irrespective of who they are, where they live or where they are born.
We need CAD$1.2 Billion from Canada
For the Global Fund to reach its USD$18 billion goal, Canada must pledge its fair share of CAD$1.2 billion. See the rationale for this ask below:
The Seventh Replenishment total ask is a ~30% increase (US$18 billion) from its ask at the Sixth Replenishment in 2019. In 2019, Canada pledged its fair share at 5% of the total USD$14 billion ask. To contribute its fair share in this replenishment, Canada must increase its investment by about 30%, amounting to CAD$1.2 billion.
The projected resource needs for HIV, TB, and malaria for 2024-2026 in countries where the Global Fund invests has increased ~30% beyond the current three-year period (2021-2023).
The United States, the largest donor of the Global Fund and host of the Seventh Replenishment, recently announced its intention to pledge USD$6 billion (~30% increase from the Sixth Replenishment), covering one-third of the Global Fund’s USD$18 billion ask. By law, the U.S. cannot commit more than one-third of the total funding, meaning that if other donors such as Canada do not meet this level of ambition, then the full pledge from the U.S. will not be secured.
Canada’s investment would yield a return of 1:31 with every dollar invested in the Global Fund resulting in USD$31 in health gains and economic returns, advancing the overall SDG agenda for fighting the three diseases.
