“This week I had the pleasure to host a preparatory meeting between donors of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,” European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs writes in the Huffington Post’s “The Big Push” blog. “The meeting was held for two very good reasons: to assess the fund’s impact on people in poor countries and to review the progress made on reforms,” he notes. “The Global Fund has achieved impressive results in limiting the spread of these three pandemics. However, we are by no means near the end of our journey,” he writes and provides “one example: The number of people dying of AIDS-related causes fell to 1.7 million in 2011, from 2.2 million in the mid-2000s. But 1.7 million deaths are still far too many.”

“As I pointed out during the meeting, the time has certainly come for us to step up our efforts to leverage additional resources,” he states, adding, “I have encouraged new public donors and the private sector to complement the contributions from traditional public donors, in order to make the fund the truly unique public-private partnership it was designed to be.” He notes, “From our side, I have made it clear that the European Commission will provide, as promised, €330 million [$432 million] between 2011 and 2013.” He writes, “The amount of funding for the next period will be decided later this year, once we know more about the E.U. budget to take us from 2014 through to 2020,” concluding, “Whatever the outcome, the Global Fund will remain an important instrument for the E.U. in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in poor countries” (4/12).