President Paul Kagame has participated in the 7th Global Fund Replenishment meeting during which Rwanda pledged $3,250,000, a 30% increase from the last round.

The meeting held in New York and chaired by the United States President Joe Biden, was aimed at raising funds for health care efforts in the fight against diseases including AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

The goal was to collect $18 billion but only $14.25 billion has been collected. Nonetheless, there are countries that have not yet contributed, including Italy and the United Kingdom.

In addition to Rwanda’s contribution of $3.25 million, the United States of America has pledged to contribute ⅓ of the Global Fund’s budget. Initially, the country provided $2 billion out of its $6 billion pledge.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, said that his country will contribute $1.6 billion dollars, an addition to the 300 million Euros that his country pledged recently.

Germany committed to giving $3 billion while Canada pledged $1.21 billion. Many countries around the world have pledged to increase their contribution by 30%. These include Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain.

The European Union has also announced that it will increase its funding by 30%, pledging 750 million Euros to help the world’s health sector.

African countries that increased their contribution by 30% include Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.

The contributions will be allocated to health programs including the fight against AIDS.

Statistics from The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), show that the number of people infected with AIDS increased by 1.5 million last year.

Meanwhile, tuberculosis cases also increased, with 1.5 million deaths in 2020 alone, which is the highest number in more than 10 years. Malaria-related deaths have decreased by 47% between 2002 and 2020.

AE News