By Haruna Gimba
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the leading Pan-African financial institution, through its Foundation, has renewed its partnership with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for a further three years.
The relationship between the two organisations began in 2011, and the new agreement formalises Ecobank’s support for the Global Fund’s work in Africa, a press statement issued by African Press Organisation said.
Health Reporters gathered that selected high-level audience composed of business leaders and development experts were present at the signing ceremony on September 16 2016, in Montreal, Canada.
The event, ‘Changing Africa: Enabling growth through the private sector’, led by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ecobank Foundation, Ms. Julie Essiam, took place on the side-lines of the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment Conference.
According to the terms of the agreement, Ecobank Foundation will work with the Global Fund to build the partnership into an engagement and advocacy platform for organisations and individuals who share a vision
of accelerating the transformation of Africa.
Ecobank Group Chief Executive Officer, Ade Ayeyemi, pledged $3 million at the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment Conference in Montreal.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau hosted the event attended by Heads of State, government officials and hundreds of private sector and development leaders from across the globe.
The Fifth Replenishment raised $12.9 billion with a goal of saving eight more million lives.
Through its Foundation, Ecobank will continue to take a prominent role with the Global Fund To Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on the African continent.
Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Foundation, Julie Essiam, signed the agreement with Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund. Programmes supported by the Global Fund partnership have put 9.2 million people on antiretroviral treatment for HIV, provided 15.1 million people with TB treatment and distributed 659 million mosquito nets to protect families from malaria.
Executive Director, Global Fund Mark Dybul, said: “We are excited about the Ecobank partnership, which improves the impact of our grants in numerous ways. When you work to advance financial management, all the way down to sub-recipients in rural areas, that’s hugely important for development.”
The Global Fund is an organization designed to accelerate the end of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as epidemics.
As a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by diseases, the Global Fund mobilizes and invests nearly $4 billion annually to support programmes run by local experts in more than 100 countries and supports attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.
