Dear Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji,

The India Working Group for Health Advocacy (IWG)[1] joins you in celebration on India’s 75 years of independence! We, the undersigned are the advocates, activists, and representatives of communities living with, affected by, and vulnerable to HIV, TB and Malaria in India.

India has made advancements in its efforts towards building an equitable health system through implementation of health programmes like Ayushman Bharat. This highlights the dedication of India in fulfilling its obligations to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to leave no one behind.

In 2019, we were glad that India pledged US$22 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria during its 6th Replenishment. Since 2006, India has contributed USD 68.5 million to the Global Fund. Demonstrating firm leadership in global health, the Government of India also hosted the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Preparatory Meeting in February 2019.

India is also renowned as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’ and Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers dominate the HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) market, accounting for more than 80% of annual purchase volumes. The Global Fund itself has bought over USD 6 billion of generic and other quality and affordable health products in the last decade from Indian manufacturers for programmes around the world.

India has showcased leadership in ending the three diseases time and again. The success of HIV, TB, and Malaria programmes has been due to the effective investment, and engagement of the communities most affected. While the successful results reflect India’s commitment to ending the three diseases nationally, it is time for India to also take leadership in ending the three diseases globally given that global health is high on India’s international cooperation agenda, and its leading role on global health issues in the BRICS and the G20 which India will host in 2023.

This year, the Global Fund embarks on its 7th Replenishment process to fund the next three-year cycle of implementation from 2023-26. In this replenishment, the Global Fund aims to raise at least US$18 billion which will help save 20 million lives, cut the mortality rate by 64% across the three diseases by 2026, relative to 2020 levels, and support countries to build resilient health and pandemic preparedness systems.

Marching beyond the limit of our pledge till date, we, the India Working Group, call on Indian government to add USD 75 million to the last pledged amount and round up India’s pledge to the Seventh Replenishment of the Global Fund to USD 100 million.  This will be a perfect celebration of the spirit of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav globally and demonstrate India’s leadership and commitment to global health solidarity!

We urge India to lead actively on global health affairs during the G20 summit in Indonesia this year, and as we take on the G20 presidency in 2023. 

We demand that investment in communities remain an essential parameter of the health initiatives in India.

We urge you to increase India’s public health expenditure from 1.15% to 2.5% of our GDP.

We urge you to sustain and increase efforts to prevent HIV, TB and malaria and reach the underserved and unreached demographics.

India has successfully demonstrated huge success in eliminating Polio in our country through effective health contributions; we believe that with US$100 million towards the Global Fund 7th replenishment, we can end the epidemics of AIDS, TB, and Malaria in the coming years. 

Your leadership has made India one of the strong health investors on the global map and we call on you to contribute toward global health and fight for what counts, which is people and their health. 

 

In Solidarity from Members of the IWG

Abhina Aher

Blessina Kumar

Daxa Patel

Shampa Nag

Sonal Mehta

 

[1] The India Working Group for Health Advocacy is a collective of health experts, advocates and people living with, affected by and/or vulnerable to HIV, TB and Malaria focused on promoting health advocacy.