Giving Compass' Take:

• The Global Fund is an international funding source made possible by global partnerships that provide capital for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment. 

• What are the reasons why the Global Fund would not be able to replenish its funding in 2019? What are the barriers to international financing? 

• Read about the current progress for finding a cure for AIDS. 

Thirty years after the World Health Organization (WHO) created World AIDS Day, HIV/AIDS is no longer a fatal disease for people who have access to testing and treatment. Today, three out of four people living with HIV know their status. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, working alongside PEPFAR and UNAIDS, has played an outsized role in financing this progress.

Estimates show that only roughly 60% of those who are HIV-positive are currently on lifesaving antiretroviral medications. One-quarter of people don’t even know they are HIV-positive. Stigma and discrimination still stop people from getting tested or seeking treatment.

This year’s World AIDS Day theme is “know your status”; by taking this critical step everyone can play a role in helping prevent transmission. Thanks to investments from global partners, we now have more testing tools than ever before. However, we must continue to help countries strengthen their health systems for testing and treatment through robust financial support for effective international partnerships – including the Global Fund.

The Global Fund, which plays a critical role in funding HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment by mobilizing and investing funds to accelerate the end of AIDS, will be working to replenish its resources in 2019. Ending HIV/AIDS is a litmus test for mobilizing the cooperation needed to achieve other SDGs.

Read the full article about global partnerships for HIV/AIDS by Elizabeth Ivanovich at United Nations Foundation