Global Fund for Health: How seven African countries squandered millions of foreign aid

Africa’s foremost diplomat, Kofi Annan, was one of the biggest human export from the continent.

Aside from being the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations for nine years (1997 to 2006), the late Ghanaian was one of the founders of the Global Fund. The funding mechanism is now the world’s largest financier of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and malaria prevention, treatment, and care programmes.

Having just won the Nobel Peace laurel, Mr Annan at a summit of African leaders in April 2001 in Abuja, Nigeria made the first contribution by donating his $100,000 award prize to the Fund.

This prompted the UN General Assembly a month later to endorse the creation of a Global Fund (GF) to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fund was formally created in 2002. Between then and 2016, more than 51 donor governments pledged $38.5 billion and paid $37.3 billion.

Mr Annan had a vision of creating a pool of funds to reach some of the world’s poorest with heavy disease burdens, especially, Africans.