To Global Fund
million during the replenishment period.
The Replenishment Conference is held every three years and the current cycle was expected to run from 2020 until 2022.
When announcing the pledge, His Majesty the King expressed gratitude to France for hosting the donor conference to amplify the fight against HIV and AIDS.
His Majesty noted how the establishment of the Global Fund had made a significant impact in Africa, the Southern African region and the Kingdom of Eswatini in particular. Prior to the establishment of the fund, the King said many people were dying as a result of lack of facilities and basic necessities. He said these facilities were greatly needed to ensure that all people living with HIV and AIDS accessed quality healthcare.
IMPLEMENTATION
Due to the implementation of Global Fund’s programme, His Majesty the King said the number of deaths in Eswatini was declining.
“The people of Eswatini owe gratitude to the Global Fund for the great work it has done in the country. This is why we want to partake and make a contribution. The Kingdom of Eswatini would like to make a contribution of US$6 million to the Global Fund,” he said to a rapturous applause.
The Kingdom was one of several African countries to make pledges. These included Zimbabwe, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Burundi, Uganda and South
Africa.
Eswatini is a beneficiary of Global Fund assistance over the years. It has received over 14 grants.
In 2019, the late former Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini said about the pledge and the assistance received from Global Fund: “Our recent funding from the fund (Global Fund) has increased by 13 per cent. At a time when the entire world is besieged by COVID-19 and global health wallets are dwindling, this has been a welcome relief and a vindication of the wise and forward thinking decision by His Majesty.”
According to the 2022 Results Report compiled by the Global Fund, the organisation supported interventions that increased knowledge and power of adolescent girls and young women to access and use HIV prevention as well as tackle cultural norms which made them vulnerable to the pandemic.
VIRUS INCIDENCE
It is stated in the report that Global Fund has increased its investments more than fivefold to improve HIV prevention programmes for adolescent girls and young women in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa where virus incidence is high.
These countries are Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In 2021, Global Fund reported that 4.4 million adolescent girls and young women were reached with HIV prevention programmes in these 13 countries – a 133 per cent increase compared to 2020
To end AIDS by 2030, the world must invest vigorously to reduce the transmission of the virus among adolescent girls and young women.
To keep girls and young women HIV-free, the organisation needs to increase access to HIV prevention options that work for them – options that they understand, believe in and that they have the power to access and use.
HIV prevention options such as PrEP and condoms are priority interventions, but adolescent girls and young women also need to be supported by health communication interventions that increase their knowledge and agency to protect themselves from unintended pregnancies, sexual violence, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, according to Global Fund.
CRUNCH POINT
The fund (Global Fund) stated that global health was at a crunch point, with health crises occurring at increasing frequency and health inequities ever more starkly apparent.
It is said that COVID-19 is still far from over.
It is also mentioned in the report that global food and energy shortages and price hikes resulting from the war in Ukraine and climate change will make the poorest communities in the world more vulnerable to all the deadliest infectious diseases, including HIV, TB and malaria.
Monkeypox is understood to be illustrating the ability of existing pathogens to mutate and pose new challenges.