News

Global Fund Hosts Successful Meeting to Strengthen Private Sector Response to AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in West Africa

Dakar, Senegal. In early June 2007 over 100 representatives from governments and the private sector gathered to exchange experiences on best practices in public-private partnership (PPP) development and implementation within West and Central Africa.

The meeting was hosted by The Global Fund and other partners, including ILO, Patrners Against AIDS, RBM, UNAIDS and WHO, and was attended by businesses such as CIMENCAM (Cameroon), Groupe Kamach (Centre Afrique), Total EP (Congo), BioMérieux (Cote d’Ivoire), SEEG (Société d’Energie et d’Eau du Gabon), Standard Chartered Bank (Gambia), Marathon Oil Company (Equatorial Guinea), Anglo Gold Ashanti (Ghana), Unilever (Ghana), Vestergaard Frandsen (Ghana), CBG (Compagnies des Bauxites de Guinée), Access Bank plc (Nigeria), SOGAS (Société de Gestion des Abattoirs du Sénégal). Also in attendance were business coalitions against AIDS from Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Liberia. The workshop highlighted opportunities for the private sector to contribute to the fight against the three diseases at the country level in collaboration with the Global Fund by participating in Global Fund grant proposal development, in-country co-investment partnerships, governance of grant coordinating bodies (CCMs) in recipient countries and technical and management support to grant recipients.

The workshop also allowed governments and businesses from western and central Africa to analyze their specific situations with regard to public-private partnerships and plan for interventions needed to rapidly scale up activities, ranging from reprogramming existing resources to planning for Round 8, which will be launched next March. One key outcome from the workshop is the definition of an action plan by each country to strengthen the private sector response to all three diseases. Similar workshops are planned in other regions globally (see Calendar). Presentations of the workshop and country action plans are available on the Global Fund website. Additionally, a booklet on PPP published by the Global fund will be available within the coming weeks.

Multi-Sector Partnership in Cameroon Demonstrates Results

CIMENCAM (Les Cimenteries du Cameroun), an affiliated company of Lafarge Group, has been contributing to the fight against HIV/AIDS since 2001 through prevention and treatment programs for its employees and their relatives. In 2006, CIMENCAM looked into extending these activities to its sub-contractors but did not have sufficient funds to do so. The solution: Create a public-private partnership with the Global Fund and the non-governmental organization CARE. Through this multi-sector partnership, CIMENCAM is now coordinating the activities implemented by CARE and financing a third of the project’s logistics and infrastructure, the rest being funded through a Global Fund Round 4 HIV/AIDS grant. In the first 4 months of the grant, 65% of the targeted population has been educated on HIV/AIDS issues and 15 peer educators have been trained. Moreover, this extension of CIMENCAM activities to HIV/AIDS work has improved the company’s relationships with its sub-contractors.

AngloGold Ashanti Fights Malaria in Ghana

AngloGold Ashanti is set to play a major role in malaria prevention in Ghana, pending the approval of a Round 7 proposal to provide technical assistance and funds for the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in the West African nation. The involvement of AngloGold in a PPP with the Global Fund and Ghana is directly linked to the results it achieved through a malaria prevention program launched in 2006, called Integrated Obuasi Malaria Control. Through this program, a malaria control centre has been opened in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and 134,000 structures (approximately 27,000 of which are houses) in Obuasi have been sprayed, which has resulted in an average monthly decline of 3,000 cases of malaria.

Marathon Oil Company Partners with the Global Fund in Equatorial Guinea

A $25.99 million Round 5 grant for a malaria initiative in Equatorial Guinea that will be co-financed by the Marathon Oil Company, had been approved by the Global Fund. Marathon Oil, which is the 4th largest U.S.-based integrated oil & gas company, will be contributing $ 1 million towards the program. The company has been involved since the beginning in the development of this proposal which aims to reduce mortality and morbidity as a result of malaria at the national level. This co-investment decision follows the excellent results of Marathon’s involvement in the implementation and funding of a public-private partnership with the Ministry of Health on Bioko Island. Since 2003, this program has reduced the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes by 95% and has decreased the number of malaria cases among children under 15 years old by 44%.

Announcements

Global Fund Corporate Champions Program Announced at Replenishment Conference

Berlin, Germany. On 26 September 2007, coinciding with the Global Fund Replenishment Conference in Berlin, the Global Fund announced its new corporate partnership program, Corporate Champions. The announcement was made at a private sector luncheon co-hosted by Kofi Annan and Global Fund Chair, Rajat Gupta and co-organized by GBC. Over 20 companies attended from the pharmaceutical, energy, mining and financial services sectors, with strong representation from German companies led by the German employer’s federation, the BDI. Speakers included: Rajat Gupta, Chair of the Board; Dr. John Tedstrom, Executive Director of GBC; Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Friends Africa and CEO of Access Bank; Dr. Michèle Barzach, President of Friends of the Fund Europe; and Tamsin Smith, President of (RED).

The Corporate Champions program aims to produce a quantum leap in the level and visibility of private sector support for the Global Fund with the expectation of yielding $40 million in investments from the private sector within two to three years. The program is designed so that the Global Fund will work with each Corporate Champion to develop a customized collaboration at the country and local level. Elements of the collaboration include development of in-country co-investment partnerships, employee engagement, advocacy and marketing campaigns and forums with government leaders. The first Global Fund Corporate Champions will be announced in 2008.

(PRODUCT) RED Contributes Over $45 million to the Global Fund and Announces New Partner Hallmark Cards

(hallmark) red Since its launch in the spring of 2006, (PRODUCT) RED has contributed $45.5 million to the Global Fund. $30.7 million of the (RED) contribution is already supporting Global Fund financed programs which benefit people affected by HIV and AIDS in Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana, which joined the Global Fund–(RED) portfolio in September.

Meanwhile, (PRODUCT) RED continues to grow. Hallmark Cards became the newest partner on October 12th. The (RED) partnership will be Hallmark's largest social-impact initiative in the history of the company. The contribution to the Global Fund from all Hallmark (RED)-branded products will be 8% of net wholesale sales. (RED) partners currently include American Express, Apple, Armani, Converse, Gap and Motorola.

In September, (RED) co-founder Bobby Shriver was honored as Advertising Person of the Year in New York by the ADVERTISING Club. This acknowledgement of the (PRODUCT) RED initiative by the advertising industry highlights the unprecedented and innovative role that (RED) private sector partners are playing by using their marketing power to raise global awareness and finances for the fight against the AIDS pandemic

Also this month Gap launched its latest (PRODUCT) RED t-shirt featuring a compelling message about the direct impact consumers can make. Gap's contribution to the Global Fund from the sale of each t-shirt, with the slogan “2 WEEKS”, is equivalent to the average cost of 2 weeks of antiretroviral medicine in Africa.

For more information about (RED) products, please visit: http://www.joinred.com/products.asp

Delegation Leadership

Message from the Chair

Dear Private Sector Delegation Colleagues,

The 16th Board Meeting is almost upon us and I have been working actively with the Secretariat to ensure this meeting represents a new way of doing business. I’ve shortened the meeting to two days, revised the structure and format of documents, and implemented new working procedures.
I have introduced two strategic areas of discussion for Board input. First, how can the Global Fund ensure that it is taking a gender-sensitive approach in its policies and programs and second; how can the Global Fund ensure it is acting as a strategic and responsible investor in the three diseases and contribute to reaching global targets. I would encourage your input to the core delegation that is attending the Board meeting on these topics.

Increasingly, I have been spending more time on malaria as the global malaria community has been working together to define a global strategy. The Gates Foundation recently convened a Malaria Forum that both Michel Kazatchkine and I attended. The outcome from the Forum was a strong commitment to form an “Implementation Taskforce” by the major players in malaria to address rapid scale up in the next few years. I have been working on the architecture of this taskforce as I believe that the time is now for the malaria community to come together and figure out how to move past malaria control and toward malaria elimination.

After the Board meeting, I have plans to make an official visit with Michel to India in December. The Global Fund South Asia team is convening a private sector meeting in Delhi in early December that I encourage your India partners to attend.

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with me and my office for your input, ideas, and suggestions.

Warm regards,

Rajat

Mr. Rajat Gupta

Chair of the Board
Voting Member Private Sector

Rajat Kumar Gupta is the Senior Partner Worldwide of McKinsey & Company. He joined the Firm's New York Office in 1973, assumed leadership of its Scandinavian Offices in 1981, and Chicago Office in 1989. Mr. Gupta served as the Managing Director Worldwide of McKinsey from 1994 to 2003.

In his 34 year career in consulting, Mr. Gupta has served many leading companies on a broad set of topics related to strategy, organization and operations. He has played a thought leadership role in organizational thinking throughout his career, and led the Organization Practice for the Firm.

Mr. Gupta is very active in a number of non-profit institutions focused on education, health and development. He served as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on UN Reform, is an independent director for Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble and Qatar Financial Centre, and is on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation. He also contributes to the work of a host of organizations including:

Education

Chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business
Chairman of the Board of Associates of the Harvard Business School
Advisory Board, Kellogg School of Management
Dean’s Advisory Board, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
Yale President’s Council
Board of Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF)
Chair of Pan IIT Alumni Association

Health

Chairman of the Board of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Chairman of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)
Board of Overseers of the Weill Cornell Medical College
Chairman of the India AIDS Initiative of The Gates Foundation
Board of the Global Health Council
Dean’s Council, Harvard School of Public Health
Board of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM)

Development

Co-Chair of the American India Foundation (AIF)
Board of the India Education Initiative
Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum
Board of the Millennium Promise

Mr. Gupta holds a bachelor of technology degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Brian Brink
Alternate Member Private Sector

Dr. Brian Brink advises Anglo American plc Group companies on the funding and delivery of health care benefits and also on occupational health and community health issues.

Dr. Brink has been with the Anglo American for over 20 years. Dr. Brink is a past Chairman of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa. He is also an executive committee member of the Private Healthcare Forum in South Africa and a board member of the International Women’s Healthcare Coalition.

Dr. Brink is responsible for guiding Anglo American’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. On a broader scale, Dr Brink is actively involved in addressing the particular challenge the HIV/AIDS epidemic poses to business in Southern Africa. Dr Brink advises the Nelson Mandela Foundation on the strategic response to HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

Mrs. Barbara Bulc
Focal Point, Private Sector

Mrs. Barbara Bulc has joined The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) as the new Director of the GBC Office in Geneva. A former Senior Advisor to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and a pharmaceutical industry executive, she will lead the work of the Focal Point for the Private Sector Delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Based in Geneva, Mrs. Bulc will expand GBC outreach to governments and UN organizations including UNAIDS and WHO, and increase engagement of businesses in Europe and worldwide to strengthen public-private partnership in the global effort to fight AIDS and other infectious diseases.

Prior to joining GBC, from 2004-2005, Mrs. Bulc was instrumental in developing the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Drug Procurement Consortium which assists over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe in setting up global systems to buy high quality medicines and diagnostics at affordable prices. Her work has led to the development of quality assurance regulatory protocols, changing the landscape of patient-care for millions of people who rely on safe and effective antiretroviral treatment.