DR Congo is the second African country to benefit from the « Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria » with nearly US$2 billion invested since 2002. The United States of America and France are the main bilateral donors within the international community, which is mobilizing more to finance the fight against these three diseases for the period 2021-2023.

To welcome this mobilization, the Global Fund’s National Coordinating Mechanism in DR Congo (CCM-DRC) organized a press conference on the occasion of the sixth replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, held in Lyon, France.

In a joint statement with his French counterpart in Kinshasa, US Ambassador Mike Hammer justified the choice of the DRC.

« U.S. assistance to the health sector in the DRC is an important aspect of the Preferred Partnership for Peace and Prosperity between the United States and the DRC, our bilateral cooperation framework launched during President Tshisekedi’s visit to Washington in April, » he said.

Honoré d’avoir participé hier à la conf de presse @GlobalFund avec Ambassadeur Pujolas, @MinSanteRDC & @des_rdc. Ls É-U sont le 1er donateur bilatéral du secteur de la santé en #RDC car ns savons que des Congolais en meilleure santé sont le gage d’un Congo plus prospère. #PP4PP https://t.co/c4JpsU97Wk pic.twitter.com/4NUWT3mKzc

— Mike “Nzita” Hammer (@USAmbDRC) October 11, 2019

Indeed, the United States already invests US$200 million each year, in addition to its contributions to the Global Fund, to improve the health of Congolese people, especially since the country’s most precious natural resource remains its people.

For his part, François Pujolas, the French diplomat, welcomed the success of the sixth Global Fund replenishment conference in Lyon.

He welcomed the remarkable results achieved in the fight against these three diseases thanks to the Global Fund, but also the strengthening of the Congolese health system, coordinated by the Ministry of Health, which should benefit all populations.

To him to specify: « Under the leadership of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and thanks to an unprecedented mobilization of public and private donors, we have been able to achieve the announced target. Health is a priority of the renewed partnership that the Democratic Republic of Congo and France wish to implement.  »

For the period 2018-2020, the DRC received a grant of USD 572 million from the Global Fund. As a result of this grant in 2018, 256,000 people living with HIV (PLWHA) are receiving antiretroviral treatment; 170,000 cases of tuberculosis have been treated; 13.7 million patients have been tested and 9 million treated for malaria; and 15.5 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been active in 142 countries since its inception in 2002. More than $41 billion has been invested in the fight against the three diseases and in health systems strengthening programs. As a result, more than a third of deaths due to the three pandemics were reduced by more than a third, saving 32 million lives.

Nadine FULA