International donors pledged $14 billion to fight diseases including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis at a Global Fund summit in the French city of Lyon.
“We have today secured pledges for $14.02 billion. So we are absolutely thrilled by this,” Global Fund executive director Peter Sands told the event.
Speaking at the end of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron named Japan as lagging behind other G7 nations and Saudi Arabia for being behind other Gulf States in their contributions.
Personalities at the event included Microsoft founder Bill Gates and U2 pop star Bono.
Gates told the summit about new developments in preventing the spread of HIV, with a monthly antiretroviral pill in development.
Bono criticised populism in a speech to participants, saying: “You peddle despair, we offer some hope. You peddle division – we offer some unity.”
The Global Fund Replenishment Conference has set a goal of preventing 234 million infections related to the three diseases by 2023.
According to the World Health Organisation, there were 37.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS across the globe in 2018.
