By: David Garmaise

In the latest batch of funding approvals from the Global Fund Board, three country grants and one multi-country grant received a total of $18.0 million in funding for initiatives on the Unfunded Quality Demand Register. The multi-country grant additional investment was funded by a private sector contribution, and the three country grants’ additional investments through portfolio optimization.

By: Adèle Sulcas

In a follow-up audit of Global Fund grants to the Democratic Republic of Congo, following a first country audit in 2016, the Office of the Inspector General acknowledged successes in disease and supply chain management, but found that stockouts or insufficient stocks of health commodities, the quality of data relating to people living with HIV on treatment or lost to follow-up, and concerns around financial management and the role of the fiscal agent need to be addressed.

By: Djesika Amendah

Fiscal agents are part of the Global Fund’s financial risk management in countries with fiduciary risks. Fiscal agents have been successful at reducing financial risks originating from weak financial management of Global Fund grant implementers. However, fiscal agents are not effective in building implementers’ capacity, contrary to their mandate.  

By: Ann Ithibu

A new analysis by Aidspan found that in ‘high-impact’ Asian countries, domestic contributions to the HIV, TB and malaria responses remain low, particularly for malaria. Domestic resources accounted for 64% of the total available funding for HIV, 55% for TB and 46% for malaria, in the 2015-2017 implementation period. The share of domestic resources rose, in the 2018-2020 period, to 81% for HIV, 63% for TB and 65% for malaria. Despite this increase, the countries still face huge gaps in funding in the current 2018-2020 period.

By: Christelle Boulanger

Viviana Mangiaterra became the Global Fund’s Head of Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health in 2014, hired to design the Fund’s approach to health system strengthening. Soon to leave the Global Fund for an academic position, Ms. Mangiaterra spoke to the Observateur du Fonds Mondial about her five years at the Fund in this critical role.

By: Adèle Sulcas

The Office of the Inspector General’s 2018 annual report to the Global Fund Board included a section on changes in the global fraud landscape, on which the OIG’s Head of Investigations, Katie Hodson, commented further, in a blog on the OIG website. The GFO spoke further with Ms Hodson on the evolution of fraud, as observed by the OIG in the Global Fund’s grants. This is the first of two articles featuring the OIG’s work.

By: Adèle Sulcas

The International AIDS Society’s bi-annual conference on HIV science, held this year in Mexico City on 21-24 July, unveiled a number of pioneering clinical advances, including implantable, long-lasting pre-exposure prophylaxis, the potential for four-day-a-week antiretroviral treatment being as effective as everyday treatment in patients who are already virally suppressed, and clarification on the safety of using antiretroviral dolutegravir during pregnancy.

By: Aidspan Staff

The Global Fund launches an ‘open letter’ to all 7-year-olds, everywhere – the latest element in its ‘Step up the Fight’ campaign in advance of the Sixth Replenishment funding conference in October.

This is issue 361 of the GLOBAL FUND OBSERVER (GFO) Newsletter. Please send all suggestions for news items, commentaries or any other feedback to the GFO Acting Editor at adele.sulcas@aidspan.org. For issues relating to Francophone countries or the French edition of the GFO, the Observateur du Fonds Mondial (OFM), please contact OFM Editor Christelle Boulanger at christelle.boulanger@aidspan.org. To subscribe to GFO/OFM, go to www.aidspan.org.

GFO Newsletter is a free and independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (www.theglobalfund.org).

Aidspan (www.aidspan.org) is a Kenya-based international NGO that serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund, aiming to benefit all countries wishing to obtain and make effective use of Global Fund resources. Aidspan does not fund any other organizations. Aidspan finances its work through grants from foundations and bilateral donors. Aidspan does not accept Global Fund money, perform paid consulting work, or charge for any of its products. The Board and staff of the Global Fund have no influence on, and bear no responsibility for, the content of GFO or of any other Aidspan publication.

GFO Newsletter is now available in English and French. The French-language edition becomes available within one week after the publication of the English edition.

GFO Acting Editor: Adèle Sulcas (adele.sulcas@aidspan.org). OFM Editor: Christelle Boulanger (christelle.boulanger@aidspan.org). Aidspan Executive Director: Ida Hakizinka (ida.hakizinka@aidspan.org).

Reproduction of articles in the Newsletter is permitted if the following is stated: "Reproduced from the Global Fund Observer Newsletter, a service of Aidspan."

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