AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF) and a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged world leaders and governments to step up commitment towards achieving the $18 billion Global Fund target.

The organisations made the call at a Civil Society Forum on the seventh Global Fund Replenishment Conference in Abuja yesterday. The CSOs include Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASHWAN), Association of Positive Youths in Nigeria (APYiN) and Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CiSAN)

The conference, which was hosted by AHF Nigeria, has ‘Fund The Fund’, #Fight for What Counts as its theme. The stakeholders said the call was geared at galvanising support at the country, regional and global levels on the need for world leaders to continue to finance the fund.

Executive Secretary, Country Coordinating Mechanism for the Global Fund Nigeria (CCM), Dozie Ezechukwu, said the fund’s support to Nigeria has left an indelible mark in the HIV, TB and malaria fight. His words: “From inception in2002 till date, Nigeria has cumulatively received close to $4 billion from Global Fund.

“In the current cycle of three years from 2021 to 2023, our total grant for HIV, TB, malaria and COVID-19 is around $1.2 billion, which we are still using to support health system programmes in the country.

“Our warehouses in Lagos and Abuja were built to international standard by Global Fund support and U.S. government, and we are investing in similar warehouses in 12 states and additional nine states.”

AHF Director of Advocacy, Policy and Marketing African Bureau, Kemi Gbadamosi, said the foundation had rolled out series of advocacies towards the seventh Global Fund replenishment coming up on September 19 across 13 countries.

She appreciated the Nigerian government for fulfilling its pledge for the sixth global fund, while appealing for more support for the seventh global fund holding in New York on September 19.

“Global fund is one of the best funding mechanisms because it works on the basis of transparency, it works on accountability and it works with countries to respond to diseases,” Gbadamosi explained.