{"id":9330,"date":"2019-10-22T06:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T10:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plataformalac.org\/?p=9330"},"modified":"2019-10-22T06:57:57","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T10:57:57","slug":"spain-resumes-the-fight-against-the-three-epidemics-after-eight-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/2019\/10\/spain-resumes-the-fight-against-the-three-epidemics-after-eight-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain resumes the fight against the three epidemics after eight years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source:\nelpais.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday at the UN, Pedro\nS\u00e1nchez announced Spain will contribute 100 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain\nmanaged to become the fifth global donor in the fight against the three large epidemics<\/a>\nthat strike human kind: AIDS<\/a>, malaria<\/a> and tuberculosis<\/a>.\nThe economic\ncrisis<\/a> interrupted the policy of investment in health. The\nGovernment left the Global Fund\u2014a multilateral organism that channels\ncontributions of public and private partners to fight against these three\ndiseases\u2014in 2011; since then, Spain had not given a single euro. On Tuesday,\nthe current president, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>,\nannounced in New York that the country would be a donor again, contributing 100\nmillion in three years. The president also assured he will provide other 100 million\nin five years to the UN Joint Fund for the Sustainable\nDevelopment Goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\ninequality gap does not stop growing. Some reports state that 1% of the global\npopulation will own two thirds of the world\u2019s total wealth by 2030. Millennials\nand centennials now have 20% less chances to be part of the middle class, compared\nto their parents. The concepts of sustainability, justice and human dignity\ncannot be understood without the ongoing and necessary fight against hunger,\npoverty and precariousness,\u201d said S\u00e1nchez, according to<\/strong> Carlos E. Cu\u00e9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nconcepts of sustainability, justice and human dignity cannot be understood\nwithout the ongoing and necessary fight against hunger, poverty and precariousness.\nThat is the spirit of the 2030 Agenda, which focuses on the human being and the\nplanet, and sets the foundations for a deep transformation of our societies.\nThe 2030 Agenda also guides the Government\u2019s actions, as the issue of achieving\nprogress requires a progressive response,\u201d added the Government\u2019s president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain\nwill announce its commitment once again on October 10 in Lyon, where the Global\nFund will host the Replenishment Conference. It is a meeting the donors (mainly\nstates, but also some philanthropic foundations) hold every three years in\norder to raise funds and plan investments for the following three-year period.\nThe organization has a goal: 14\nbillion dollars <\/a>(more than 12.5 billion euros), which it calculates to\nbe the amount needed to continue moving forward in the fight against these\nthree diseases, which altogether take the lives of almost three million people\nevery year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto a\nreport published last week by the Global Fund<\/a>, the programs in which\nthe Fund has invested in the last two decades (it was created in 2002) have\nhelped save 32 million lives. To achieve this, 18.9 million people received\nantiretroviral treatment against HIV; 719,000 HIV-positive mothers received\nmedicine to avoid transmitting the virus to their children; 5.3 million people\nwith TB were treated, and 131 million mosquito nets were distributed to protect\nfamilies from malaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nResults Report of this year clearly shows why we should step up the fight\nagainst HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,\u201d said Peter Sands, Executive Director of\nthe organization. \u201cWe have achieved extraordinary progress, yet there are still\nhuge challenges to be overcome before achieving SDG 3, which is putting an end\nto the epidemics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill\nGates, the main private donor to the Fund (through the Bill & Melinda Gates\nFoundation), happily welcomes back Spain as a donor. \u201cWhen committing to\ncontribute money, he is not just making the right thing for the world, but for\nSpain as well. Diseases do not obey border laws. By strengthening health\nsystems abroad, we reduce the chances for diseases to spread. Plus, we ensure\nall parents the opportunity to raise healthy, safe and educated children, so it\nis less likely that they desperately have to travel long distances to find a better\nlife in other places,\u201d he explained when answering a questionnaire sent by EL\nPA\u00cdS. \u201cPresident S\u00e1nchez and Spain demonstrate an incredible leadership in the\nglobal context. Now that more and more countries are deciding to turn inwards\nand reduce external aid, Spain and other European countries are demonstrating\nthat we cannot step back in our commitment to fight against poverty and\ndiseases,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge\nsteps forward have been made during the first fifteen years of the millennium\nto end the three epidemics. Mortality rates have been reduced by half thanks to\nscientific innovation and political commitment. However, the fight appears to\nhave stalled in the last few years. That is the case for malaria, which has\nbeen eliminated in several countries, yet it has increased in the most affected\nones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nfew weeks ago, a group of scientists (supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates\nFoundation) announced that it\nis possible to eliminate this disease by 2050<\/a>. Despite skepticism from\nthe World Health Organization regarding the date, Gates feels optimistic:\n\u201cThere are still many obstacles in our path, such as the increasing resistance\nto drugs and insecticides [\u2026], but the innovation potential makes the\ndifference. Different types of new tools against malaria are about to appear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding\nHIV, obstacles are social rather than scientific: even though there is no cure\nfor the disease, there is a treatment that controls\nit and makes it non-communicable<\/a>. Peter Sands, Global Fund Director,\nstates on the report that the virus can only be defeated if \u201chuman rights barriers\u201d\u2013faced\nby key populations, thereby increasing their vulnerability to the disease and\ncomplicating their access to health services\u2013are destroyed. \u201cLikewise, we could\nonly end HIV if we address structural gender inequalities, which make teenagers\nand young women in Sub-Saharan Africa twice as likely to be infected as their\nmale peers,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nthird epidemic, which\nkills the highest number of people<\/a>, is tuberculosis, and it faces\ntwo serious problems. First, the lack of diagnosis, which causes that over a\nthird of the 10 million people with TB every year do not know they suffer from\nit; therefore, they do not receive treatment and continue infecting other\npeople. Second, the bacterium is getting more resistant to antibiotics that had\nbeen effective for years, which leads to more aggressive treatment that is not\nalways effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis context, it seems like the goal to put an end to the three large epidemics\nby 2030 is complicated. In\na recent interview with this newspaper<\/a>, Fran\u00e7oise Vanni, Director of\nExternal Relations at the Global Fund, said it was possible. \u201cThere is a lot of\nwork to do, and this is a crucial moment in which the international community\nmust decide if it really wants to achieve the goals. If we do not raise the 14\nbillion now, three years from now it will be too late. We know what we have to\ndo; we know we can do it, but we need investment, collaboration and political\nleadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: elpais.com On Tuesday at the UN, Pedro S\u00e1nchez announced Spain will contribute 100 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF) Spain managed to become the fifth global donor in the fight against the three large epidemics that strike human kind: AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The economic crisis interrupted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,74],"tags":[],"anho":[],"autor":[],"publicado_por":[],"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-9330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-the-fund","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"anho","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anho?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"autor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autor?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"publicado_por","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicado_por?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"palabras_clave","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/palabras_clave?post=9330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}