An international donor conference in Montreal reached its goal of raising $13 billion for the fight to eradicate Aids, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Eight million lives saved
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honour to announce that for the fifth replenishment conference for the Global Fund to end Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, we have reached our goal together," Trudeau said at the conference close.
"We have raised almost $13 billion, and in doing so, we have saved eight million lives."
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The conference was hosted by Trudeau and attended by several heads of states, as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, pop singer Bono – whose nonprofit group ONE works to reduce poverty and disease in Africa – and Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.
Created as a public-private initiative, the Global Fund has so far spent $30 billion on programmes to fight the three deadly diseases around the world, with most of it going to Africa.
US biggest donor
It has been credited with helping to save 22 million lives and preventing 300 million infections over the past decade, as it pursues a UN target of eradicating Aids by 2030 and the other diseases even sooner.
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But it needs to raise another $13 billion to fund its operations over the next three years through 2019.
The United States, which has provided nearly one-third of the total funding so far, pledged an additional $4.3 billion.
The second biggest donor, Britain, pledged $1.4 billion, followed by France ($1.2 billion), Germany ($900 million), and Japan and Canada giving each $800 million.
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