Identifying novel sources of malaria funding in Asia Pacific

Sustainable health financing meeting; jointly organized by ADB, Global Fund and APLMA (Tuesday 5 December 2017)       

A key theme percolating through Malaria Week discussions has been the importance of identifying novel and sustainable sources of funding to enable continued progress towards malaria elimination. This was the core focus of a session on the second day that raised the curtain on a new funding partnership being forged between the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Through an overview of health financing in the region, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided vital perspectives on the funding challenges being faced. Both the Global Fund and ADB offered their unique views on these obstacles before participants broke into groups to address specific topics.

Breakout topics were:

  • The role of the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance (APLMA) in the Global Fund/ADB partnership.
  • How to create an overarching framework for this new collaboration.
  • Country perspectives on the new joint funding mechanism.

Some of the ideas emerging from the breakout groups included the possibility of common regional procurement; how the ADB and Global Fund, with their varying respective funding priorities, can work together; and the importance of central government agencies playing a key role in the funding discussion.

The meeting heard how countries in the region face an imminent malaria funding gap that could put the gains made against the disease in jeopardy. Participants agreed unanimously that countries and partners need to be creative in identifying and accessing new sources of funding, and that the new partnership between the Global Fund and ADB is a strong start.

Presentations from this session:

  • Operational Plan for Health and Regional Malaria and other Communicable Diseases Threats Trust Fund (RMTF) (Dr Susann Roth, Senior Social Development Specialist, Asian Development Bank) (read more)
  • Health financing in the Asia Pacific Region (Department of Communicable Diseases (CDS) at Regional Office for South-East Asia, World Health Organization) (read more)
  • The Global Fund and Asian Development Bank Memorandum of Understanding: Increasing the financing envelope by building resilient health systems (Mr. Günther Mate Principal Specialist at ADB) (read more)
  • Catalysing Impact and Sustainability of HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Responses – The Global Fund Strategy 2017-22 (The Global Fund) (read more)