Dear Foreign Secretary

I am writing to ask you to uphold the UK’s long-standing commitment to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and commit £1.8 billion at the 7th Global Fund Replenishment hosted by President Biden later this year.

To date, with consistent high level UK support, the Global Fund has helped save 44 million lives over its first 20 years in operation, making it one of the most effective health organisations on the planet. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put these hard-won gains at risk. We’ve seen the first year-on-year increase in TB since 2005, there were 14 million more malaria cases reported in 2020 compared to 2019, and 1.5 million people became newly infected with HIV last year alone.

President Biden has already pledged a 30% increased US commitment, in line with the Global Fund’s replenishment needs, and is calling on all major donors to do the same. The US commitment is reliant on others stepping up as it is capped at a third of the replenishment total. Therefore, you can be confident that a bold UK commitment will have a catalytic effect in leveraging the full US pledge – as well as incentivising investment from other donors and the private sector – thus ensuring the success of the overall replenishment.

The case for UK investment in the Global Fund is clear:

• A fully funded replenishment will save 2.6 million lives between 2024 and 2026 and avert more than 59 million infections or cases.
• Tackling disease boosts global prosperity; for every dollar invested in the Global Fund, US$31 is yielded in health gains and economic returns.
• The Global Fund’s work to build stronger and more resilient health systems helps ensure the world is better able to prevent, detect, and respond to future disease threats.
• Tackling the three diseases plays a critical part in ensuring gender equality globally and supports the UK’s commitment to women and girls.
• Working through the Global Fund is an effective soft power mechanism to deepen the UK’s global alliances and foster collective action on global issues that are holding back peace, stability and prosperity for all.

I urge you to act decisively and boldly to get progress back on track and accelerate action to end these preventable epidemics by 2030.

Yours sincerely,

Marsha de Cordova MP