The President, François Hollande, announced that he was keeping the French contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS the same. The associations hoped for an increase.
With more than 200,000 festival-goers this weekend, Solidays 2016 broke attendance records. These three days of concerts and debates organized at the Longchamp racecourse (Paris) have, however, not been successful. Asked by France Info, the founder and director of the Solidarité Sida association, Luc Barruet, indicated that last year’s record will not be broken. The 2.8 million euros that we had collected will not even be equaled, he judges: “ At the government level or in the private sector, relations are strained, and budgets are shrinking, ”he explained.
In this already gloomy context, anti-HIV activists had to receive a second bad news. In a press release published on Sunday, the Coalition PLUS, AIDES, and ACT UP-Paris associations regret that François Hollande did not choose to increase the French contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
On Sunday, the President of the Republic announced the maintenance by press release of France’s contribution. This will be the same: around 1.08 billion euros for the period 2017-2019, or 360 million euros per year.
The French want to go further
With more than 200,000 festival-goers this weekend, Solidays 2016 broke attendance records. These three days of concerts and debates organized at the Longchamp racecourse (Paris) have, however, not been successful. Asked by France Info, the founder and director of the Solidarité Sida association, Luc Barruet, indicated that last year’s record will not be broken. The 2.8 million euros that we had collected will not even be equaled, he judges: “ At the government level or in the private sector, relations are straining, and budgets are shrinking, ”he explained.
In this already gloomy context, anti-HIV activists had to receive a second bad news. In a press release published on Sunday, the Coalition PLUS, AIDES, and ACT UP-Paris associations regret that François Hollande did not choose to increase the French contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
On Sunday, the President of the Republic announced the maintenance by press release of France’s contribution. This will be the same: around 1.08 billion euros for the period 2017-2019, or 360 million euros per year.
The French want to go further
“The French President has remained deaf to the calls of Mr. Ban Ki-Moon”. “In his last report, the Secretary General of the United Nations made it clear: if international funding does not increase over the next few years, new HIV infections will start to rise again and AIDS will kill more people” , add these activists. They point out that 100,000 people already die from it and 160,000 others are infected with it every month.
Faced with this, the UN estimates the additional need of 6 to 7 billion dollars per year – only 0.01% of world GDP. And the French would like France to do more. a IFOP survey published last week shows that they are supporting France’s participation in financing the end of AIDS.
Next meeting in September
The associations therefore urge François Hollande “to pull himself together” by announcing an increase in France’s contribution during the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, which will bring together all the donor states on September 16 in Montreal, Canada.
” The Global Fund finances half of the anti-retroviral treatments in the world. It is also one of the only international institutions that fund access to rights and health programs for key populations, including in contexts where they are criminalized. Investing in the Global Fund is the best way to fight the epidemic, ”said Hakima Himmich, president of Coalition PLUS.
“Investing in the Global Fund is a strategic choice that will pay off in the long term. The Canadian Prime Minister has understood this well. Justin Trudeau has pledged to increase his country’s contribution by 20%. Luxembourg, the United States and Japan have also chosen to intensify their efforts, calls for his side Aurélien Beaucamp, president of AIDES. He recalls that the spectacular progress made over the past 15 years against HIV “makes it possible to envisage the end of the epidemic by 2030”.
The UN confirmed this at the high-level meeting on AIDS earlier this month.
Bill Gates congratulates France
The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, hailed this Monday the efforts of France, “the first contributor in Europe in the fight against AIDS”, after an interview with François Hollande at the Elysee on the subject of international action against major pandemics.
In comments reported by Agence France Presse (AFP), the richest billionaire in 2016 (fortune of 76.4 billion dollars) said: “I am sure that this generosity will be a source of inspiration for others” . “The world needs this kind of leadership, so that we can live in a safer world, with a better level of health, for the generations to come”, he continued on the steps of the Elysee.
He also indicated that “while 1.2 million people around the world still die each year from HIV, France and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will continue and strengthen their partnership to develop innovative actions. in this area, especially in Africa ”.
.
