At the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference, private sector partners committed more funding, in-kind support and catalytic investment than ever before to end the three deadly diseases. This commitment and strong call to action for other partners to join in was led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who committed a record US$912 million, and (RED), who pledged $150 million. With 11 private sector partners continuing their support and 16 new partners pledging for the first time, the total funding pledged grew to $1.23 billion, an increase of $108 million over the Sixth Replenishment.

The Global Fund partnership announced catalytic investments framed to accelerate growth and drive adoption of innovation across a number of crucial pillars of change in its Strategy, including:

• The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, who pledged $33 million to accelerate progress in the fight against HIV transmission by increasing equitable access to medicines like pre-exposure prophylaxis.
• Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and the Skoll Foundation will together provide $25 million as anchor investment in a fund to accelerate the professionalization of community health workers, the backbone to last-mile health care.
• The Rockefeller Foundation and the Abbott Fund committed a total of $20 million to a catalytic fund to strengthen laboratory systems in countries, build stronger regional collaboration and strengthen information systems for data sharing.
• A fund designed to accelerate countries’ digital health transformation will be supported by Anglo American and the Anglo American Foundation with $15 million, as well as co-investment commitments valued at least US$23 million from Dimagi, Medic Mobile, Medtronic LABS, the Novartis Foundation, Orange and Zenysis.
• SC Johnson and J&J, alongside Project Last Mile, which is celebrating 10 years of partnership, committed to use their expertise and private sector best practices to dramatically improve and accelerate the impact of precision behaviour change in prevention programs. Roche will provide technical support to improve lab sample transport systems, as well as waste management. Thomson Reuters committed to redoubling efforts to reduce human rights-related barriers to health.
• Malaria No More and the Health Finance Coalition (HFC) launched the Outcomes Fund for Fevers (OFF) in partnership with the Global Fund, Global Citizen, NPX, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). The Fund aims to raise an initial $25 million to increase the quality of fever testing, treatment, and digital reporting through the private sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

“To defeat HIV, TB and malaria, we need innovations, and we need to ensure they reach the people who most need them. This scale of funding and the commitment of the private sector’s expertise will help us transform millions of lives,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Our partners are showing incredible leadership. We will not defeat these diseases without the private sector continuing to step up.”

In New York, the “Power of Partnerships” event on 19 September showcased the range of private sector partnerships designed to address critical problems and bottlenecks in the fight against the three diseases, with support spanning a diverse range of industries – including digital health, telecommunications, marketing, finance, pharmaceutical and life sciences, as well as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). It also emphasized the importance of the voice of civil society, especially young women and girls, in the design of solutions and the deployment of private sector resources.

“The Global Fund takes the power of private sector innovation and expertise and rapidly scales access to new solutions for the most vulnerable people, fast-tracks progress in key priority areas, and builds domestic capacity in the countries in which we invest,” said Sherwin Charles, the Global Fund Board Member representing the private sector and the CEO of Goodbye Malaria, which also pledged $5.5 million.

Two partnerships recognized the need to mobilize other forms of investment to accelerate innovation and build domestic capacity. Aligned with the Global Fund’s mission to eliminate HIV, TB and malaria, MedAccess will deploy at least $150 million of its capital to secure price and volume agreements to accelerate the access of affordable new products by patients, and HFC intends to launch a $100 million investment fund to scale innovative health models in Africa.