STOPAIDS and the UK Global Fund Replenishment Group were the recipients of the nOSCARS 2019 Global Impact Award.
STOPAIDS have co-ordinated Global Fund Replenishment advocacy across a number of organisations (including Frontline AIDS, Malaria No More, RESULTS UK, The One Campaign and Malaria Consortium), youth campaigners (largely from our partners Youth Stop AIDS) and Parliamentarians for ten years now – supporting an institution that has helped save 32 million lives since its creation in 2002.
In the 2019 replenishment advocates globally faced a particularly ambitious goal of securing a total target of at least $14 billion to stay on track to deliver the Global Fund strategy targets, and this was no easy feat considering the challenging context of international politics and faltering donor funding for the global HIV response. In the UK we needed to persuade the government to step up the fight and their funding for the Global Fund yet again.
We are delighted that our efforts and those of our working group and its members paid off. The UK government committed £1.4 billion to the Fund (a 15% increase on previous UK contributions) which over the next three years will help save a further two million lives and help three million people access anti-retroviral treatment across the world.
This was a group effort of the working group, STOPAIDS members and Youth Stop AIDS campaigners and many beyond and we were proud to accept this award on their behalf in December.
We use moments like these to celebrate progress in the global response but also remind ourselves of the huge amount of work that we all have to do. Globally nearly one million people still die from AIDS-related illnesses every year and many face stigma and discrimination.
We can only finish the job if we all unite together behind the cause and ensure political leaders prioritise the issue and increase funding once again. STOPAIDS and our members will continue to do all in our power to help achieve the end of AIDS by 2030.