“Even a modest additional investment can save millions of lives, improve overall health of the population, strengthen health systems and provide economic gains through increased productivity of the workforce”, said Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, at the African Private sector summit organized by Friends of the Global Fund Africa in the country’s capital, Kigali, last Saturday. “We all stand to benefit from that.”

Rwanda has also been actively engaged in the Global Fund board and committees’ discussions to inform and guide policies, contributing to its governance.

“In addition to helping finance further scale up of treatment and prevention, Rwanda’s contribution carries strong political significance”, said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund. “It shows Rwanda’s solidarity with the global fight against these epidemics.”

In total, The Global Fund has approved almost US$ 700 million in grants to Rwanda, to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and to strengthen health systems. To date, around US$ 363 million have been disbursed. The country has shown an outstanding ability in turning funding into improving public health.

Rwanda is one of the countries in Africa that is set to reach the Millennium Development Goals targets, if its interventions keep the current pace, particularly in the area of maternal and children's health. The country reduced under-five mortality by 50% and maternal mortality by 64%, between 2000 and 2008.

Currently, nine countries which receive funds from The Global Fund have also made contributions.

The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

 This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases.