FGFJ welcomed more than 150 participants at its 15th Anniversary Event, “Our Fight, Our Global Fund, Our Replenishment—Japan and the Global Fund,” which was held at The Classic House, Akasaka Prince, in Tokyo. The participants included parliamentarians from various parties, parliamentarians, government officials, the health sector and other non-health areas of the private sector, academia, NGOs, media, and students. The full program can be found here.
The event offered an opportunity to look back on the course of the fight, hear from those who have been integrally involved, evaluate where we are now, and consider what steps we should be taking as we look ahead toward the 6th replenishment of the Global Fund this October.
At the opening, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who was the host of the Kyushu Okinawa Summit in 2000, where the launch of the Global Fund was first discussed, sent a video message to convey his continued commitment to the fight. Then, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Norikazu Suzuki spoke, congratulating FGFJ on what it has achieved to date.
Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund, gave a presentation on the Investment Case, stressing that “business as usual” will not be enough to stop the epidemic; there is a need for an increased commitment if we are to get back on track to end the epidemics by 2030.
His speech was followed by two panel discussions. Panel 1 highlighted the critical roles of the community in the work of the Global Fund, inviting three prominent activists to share their thoughts. The panel endorsed the importance of leveraging community engagement in the fights against all three diseases, and of a stronger commitment to “leave no one behind” in these fights.
Panel 2 was a unique one that invited two people from the corporate sector along with a journalist, a sports marketing executive now working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a representative from the Global Fund. Under the theme of “the Global Fund Partnership and SDGs,” each panelist discussed the reason why they choose the Global Fund as a partner in order to contribute to their objective of meeting the SDG goals, reflecting their diverse backgrounds and interests and also highlighting the uniqueness of the Global Fund.
The two co-chairs of the FGFJ Board of Advisors, Ichiro Aisawa and Motohisa Furukawa, delivered speeches at the closing and the reception, emphasizing their renewed commitment to the fight against the infectious diseases.
