Global Fund chief Sands outlines gains and hurdles in HIV, TB and malaria fight

Peter Sands, whose eight-year tenure as director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is drawing to a close, reflected on the organization’s achievements and challenges. He said the decline in AIDS mortality continues, albeit slower than desired, and that tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment rates are rising each year, though not as rapidly as HIV progress. Malaria control, he explained, shows progress in some locales but little to none in others, hampered by armed conflict, climate change and growing insecticide resistance.

The pandemic and recent donor cuts have disrupted services, but the Fund has managed to maintain, and in some cases improve, outcomes by concentrating resources on the poorest, most affected regions. Sands highlighted upcoming innovations, including the long-acting injectable lenacapavir and a future monthly oral HIV prevention pill, as well as dual-active mosquito nets and improved TB tests, urging continued financial support to maximise their impact.