Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership Renew Memorandum of Understanding with Global Drug Facility

To optimize access to TB health products in countries receiving the Global Fund grant to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, The Global Fund renewed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility, in Geneva on 17th June 2016.
This implies that the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), as a Principal Recipient of the Global Fund grant in Nigeria, will continue to receive TB health products, to be distributed for free to end TB in Nigeria.
According to the report on Global Fund’s website: “The Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility (GDF) is the largest supplier of quality assured patient treatments, including first line drugs, second line drugs and paediatric formulations, as well as diagnostics. It is a unique TB medicines procurement mechanism, and provides targeted technical assistance, innovative supply management tools and institutional capacity strengthening to countries for accelerated uptake of new TB products”.
The two organisations recognize the necessity for more strategic partnership and the mutual benefits to be gained through structured and collaborative engagement to improve the supply chain of TB health products to countries the Global Fund is supporting.

“By signing this memorandum of understanding, we can strengthen the global response to ending TB and get the diagnostics and medicines to those who need it the most,” said Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership.
Under the agreement, both organisations will align pooled procurement and market shaping strategies, demand forecasting, and continuous performance improvement activities.
Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund said: “We really have to accelerate progress on TB, and this is just one step in that direction.” “We already work closely with Stop TB, and this agreement will make our collaboration even stronger.”
The Global Fund is a partnership organisation between governments, civil society and the private sector, founded in 2002, to accelerate the end of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as epidemics. The Global Fund raises and invests about US$4 billion a year to support programmes run by experts in countries to fight these diseases.
The Stop TB Partnership is a unique international body aligned with about 1500 partners in more than 100 countries, in the fight against Tuberculosis, providing TB diagnosis, treatment, drugs and vaccines.