On November 13, ISGlobal brought together representatives of the Global Fund, journalists, and political and administrative actors in Madrid to address an urgent issue: decline in international funding for global health and the role that Spain can play in this scenario. This meeting opened a space for analysis on how to sustain the progress made in HIV, tuberculosis and malaria at a time marked by the withdrawal of key donors.
Immediate effects of withdrawal
The fall in international financing is already being felt in the entire global response to major epidemics. The reduction in contributions from key donors slows the expansion of recent technologies, limits the capacity of national programs to maintain treatment coverage, and slows the strengthening of health systems that depend on these funds to sustain human resources, laboratories, supply chains, and data systems.
Budgetary uncertainty compromises progress that has saved more than 70 million lives; They have reduced mother-to-child transmission by 73% worldwide and have prevented 20 million new infections since the creation of multilateral mechanisms such as the Global Fund.
Identified priorities for HIV
During the day, four priority lines of action were identified: improving prevention with new tools such as long-acting injectables, such as Lenacapavir; move towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission; adapt health systems to a population with HIV that lives longer; and consolidate digital information systems that require stable financing.
A key Global Fund and middle-income countries in tension
The Global Fund remains a centerpiece of the global health architecture and is moving towards more integrated and health-focused models. primary carein order to reduce fragmentation and strengthen the sustainability of the programs.
However, middle-income countries face increasing difficulties: without access to licenses that make innovations cheaper and with waning international cooperation, maintaining essential programs becomes more complex. Although many countries show economic growth, they have not yet reached commitments such as allocating 15% of the national budget to health.
When progress stops, inequality advances
The stagnation in the fight against HIV and malaria hits the most vulnerable groups hardest—young children, pregnant women, adolescents and stigmatized populations—while international cuts, especially from the United States, put at risk the response of the Global Fund and the stability of health systems already fragile.
The role of Spain
In the midst of this situation, Spain increases its contribution to the Global Fund from 130 to 145 million eurosa gesture that reinforces its role in the international debate and its ability to facilitate coalitions for the reform of the global health system
The meeting shows that the future of global health depends on the decisions that are being made right now. Science has shown what works, but lack of funding threatens to reverse historic advances. Spain has the opportunity to contribute to maintaining international commitment and promoting solutions that ensure that the progress achieved is not reversed.
This chronicle has been written from the original text by Lalama Jabby and Laura Agundez.
