The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, “[a]long with our partners, both donors and implementers, [is] changing the story of scores of nations that were once devastated by three killer diseases — diseases which seemed invincible,” Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine writes in a Huffington Post opinion piece, adding “we are now saving more than one million lives every year.”

He continues, “No one should be more proud of this than the people of the United States. Its leadership in global health through programs such as PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative) and of course its leading support for the Global Fund, has been a crucial catalyst for success. The millions of lives saved every year by all these programs is a return on the United States’ investment in global health.” Kazatchkine thanks the “inspiring individuals” who last week signed on to an open letter pledging support for the Global Fund, concluding, “We have never been so close” (9/27).