Written Statement

Thursday 20th October 2016 Written Statements

Thursday 20 October 2016

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Thursday 20th October 2016 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Priti Patel)]

I would like to update the House on my attendance at the fifth replenishment conference of the global fund.

The fifth replenishment conference took place on 15 and 16 September in Montreal, Canada. The conference was hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and brought together participants from Governments, the private sector, civil society and non-governmental organisations to raise funds for the fight against the three diseases— HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria—up to 2020.

At the conference, I announced that the UK would make £1.1 billion available to tackle these three diseases. Our investment will help the global fund to save eight million lives, avert 300 million infections, and help build resilient and sustainable systems for health.

To support the fight against malaria, I structured our investment to increase contributions from the private sector by agreeing to double private sector contributions to the global fund for malaria up to a maximum of £200 million.

I also made it clear that the UK, as an engaged, outward-looking nation, has a duty both to the people we are trying to help and to the UK taxpayer to ensure the aid system is as effective as possible. I therefore announced that, starting with the global fund, I will be rolling out performance agreements with all major organisations in order to challenge, change and reform the global development system so that it properly serves the poorest people in the world. We will therefore use our investment to secure a step change in the global fund’s performance to ensure every penny of UK taxpayers’ money is achieving the maximum possible impact. As a result, I have agreed a new £90 million performance agreement with the global fund, which is based on delivery in 10 key areas of improvement, including increasing the impact of our investment by ensuring the most vulnerable and hardest to reach parts of society receive the support they need, by rooting out corruption and inefficiency and by focusing resources on countries with the least ability to pay.

By helping to free developing countries from the burden of the three diseases, we are not only saving lives; we are boosting economies and helping countries leave aid dependency behind to become trading partners of the future. But ending the three diseases as epidemics by 2030 is an enormous challenge. Britain has a proud record as a global leader in development and following the referendum result, we now have the opportunity to further build on our place in the world. UK support to the global fund over the next three years will:

Fund 40 million bed nets to tackle malaria;

Provide enough lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy for 1.3 million people with HIV;

Support the treatment of 800,000 people with tuberculosis.

Overall, the replenishment conference was a success, raising pledges worth US $12.9 billion, which will go towards tackling the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the period 2017-19. The conference raised nearly $1 billion more than the previous replenishment conference in 2013.

The UK will hold the global fund and key donors to their commitments to ensure the UK’s investment achieves the maximum possible impact, while rolling out this new approach to performance agreements for future aid spending.

I am aware of the significant degree of interest in this issue from Members across the House, whose advice and support on this issue has been invaluable for the Government. For the convenience of Members, I am depositing a copy of the performance agreement in the Libraries of both Houses.

Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www.parliament. uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-10-20/HCWS205/

[HCWS205]