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GENEVA – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today appointed a new Executive Director: Peter Sands, a former chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank who after a distinguished career in banking immersed himself in a range of global public health projects.

Sands, who is currently Chairman of the World Bank’s International Working Group on Financing Pandemic Preparedness, is also a research fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute and the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School, where he works on research projects in global health and financial regulation.

“Peter Sands brings exceptional management and finance experience, and a heart for global health,” said Aida Kurtović, Board Chair of the Global Fund. “At a time when we face complex challenges, his ability to mobilize resources while managing transformational change is exactly what we need. We expect him to take the Global Fund to the next level.”

Sands served as Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered PLC from 2006 to 2015, having joined the bank in 2002 as Group Finance Director. Under his leadership, Standard Chartered successfully navigated the turbulence of the global financial crisis in 2007-2009, continuing to support clients and counterparties throughout the worst of the financial stresses and without drawing on government support of any kind.

Sands led Standard Chartered’s transformation into one of the world’s leading international banks, reinforcing its focus on emerging markets and driving the development of world-class product, risk management and technology capabilities, underpinned by a highly collaborative culture. During Sands’ tenure as CEO, Standard Chartered focused its corporate responsibility initiatives on health issues, including avoidable blindness, AIDS and malaria. Sands served on the board of the Global Business Coalition on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and was Lead Non-Executive Director on the board of the United Kingdom’s Department of Health.

After stepping down from the bank in 2015, Sands deployed his skills and experience in international finance on global health. Sands served as Chairman of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine’s Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future, which published the influential report on pandemics entitled The Neglected Dimension of Global Security: a Framework to Counter Infectious Disease Outbreaks. Sands is also serving on the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Forum on Microbial Threats and Committee on Ensuring Access to Affordable Drugs. Sands has published articles on global health and epidemics in various peer-reviewed journals.

“I am deeply honored to join this extraordinary partnership,” Sands said. “Infectious diseases today represent one of the most serious risks facing humankind. If we work together to mobilize funds, build strong health systems and establish effective community responses we will be able to end epidemics, promote prosperity and increase our global health security.”

Born in the United Kingdom, Sands was educated in Malaysia, the UK, Canada and the U.S. He began his career in the UK’s Foreign Office and then joined McKinsey & Company, where he worked for 13 years in the London office, advising clients in the financial services and telecommunications sectors.

Sands graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford University with a First Class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He also received a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University, where he was a Harkness Fellow.

As new Executive Director, Sands will oversee and guide the implementation of the Global Fund’s 2017-2022 strategy, designed to maximize impact against HIV, TB and malaria and build resilient and sustainable systems for health.

The Global Fund is a 21st-century partnership organization designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics. Founded in 2002, the Global Fund is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases.

The Global Fund raises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in countries and communities most in need. The Global Fund has been consistently rated as one of the most effective and transparent organizations in the development sector.

(Port-au-Prince, November 6, 2017) – From November 6 to 9, an international Forum is bringing to Haiti more than 150 national and international specialists to spur the dialogue on what are the key requirements to end AIDS in the region. AHF, which serves populations in more than a dozen countries in the Caribbean and in Latin America, has been a partner in implementing this joint effort from its inception in Mexico in 2014 and will continue to do so.

AHF, however, remains concerned about the slow implementation of the Test and Treat Strategy within the region and about the reduction as well as the inefficiency of utilization of existing donor funds.

“The percentage of overall funding allocated to treatment in the region is not in keeping with the evidence, which now indisputably indicates that getting to sustained viral suppression removes the risk of transmission. Yet, still only a half of those infected are on treatment, and worse, maybe less than half of those in treatment, is virally suppressed”, said Dr Kevin Harvey, Caribbean Regional director.  “We must continue to discuss sustainability of the response and country ownership in light of retreating donors and restricted funding; however, we believe there is an even more urgent need to discuss the mammoth task of doubling and, in some cases, triple the number of persons receiving treatment. Moreover, the social barriers that limit one’s ability to stay on treatment, we have hardly started to address”, also noted the former Head of HIV Program in Jamaica.

AHF is committed to expanding its role in the response in this region and around the world as we scale up the resources it provides in the LAC. “Our goal is to directly support one million persons in care by 2020”, said Mr Michael Kahane, Southern Bureau Chief. “And we will not be neglecting small developing states such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.” Dr. Patricia Campos, Chief of the Latin America Bureau, pointed out that AHF is also calling on National governments “to address, as a national emergency, the implementation of treatment for those who have the virus, considering that Test and Treat is an intervention that will not only save the lives of the individuals treated, but will protect the whole society due to the resultant reduction in transmission at the community level.”

Finally, as the Forum evolves, AHF is calling on all the donors, governments and civil society within this region to urgently develop and implement a roadmap to ramp up care and treatment, in keeping with the sustainable development goals and 90 90 90 targets, as agreed by the UN and partners.
“The evidence is clear and well documented, we would have failed the next generation if we retreat now”, Dr Harvey concludes.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to almost 820,000 patients in 38 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare.

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The Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (CRN+) participated in the CVC Regional Civil Society Organisation Forum and Advocacy Planning Meeting, held from 29th September to 3rd October 2017 at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Kingston Jamaica. The meeting brought together representatives from civil society organisations across the region, including CRN+ networks, CRN+ Board and Staff, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) representatives, PANCAP and other partners. The meeting provided an opportunity for CRN+ to contribute to the discussion on stigma and discrimination affecting PLHIV and other key population groups, network with other CSOs to strengthen its work with PLHIV across the region, establish new partnerships and to share good practices working with PLHIV.

The Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (CRN+), with funding from the Robert Carr Network FundIII, convened a Review and Reflection Meeting from 27th – 28th September 2017 at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Kingston Jamaica. The meeting brought together representatives of the networks of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) from six of the eight target countries on the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) grants. These included Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. CRN+ Board members, CRN+ Staff, GNP+ Executive Director and Programme Officer participated in the meeting. The PANCAP Global Fund grant supported board members and the Senior Programme Officer’ participation.

The meeting reviewed and discussed the HIV Environmental Scans supported by GNP+ which were conducted in 2016 and the UNAIDS 90-90-90 Progress Update 2017 – focusing on the Caribbean data. Participants reviewed and simplify the UNAIDS Caribbean epidemiological data to enable PLHIV to better understand the information and to aid them in their advocacy.

The recent pace of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa has undeniably been of enormous benefit to the continent. Countries such as Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, and Nigeria have profited from high levels of foreign investment and commodity exports, enabling them to invest in much-needed infrastructure. While this has certainly led to societal transformations, it has also exacerbated the gap between new technologies and old, often defective systems. Much of sub-Saharan Africa continues to be plagued by poor access to electricity, sporadic Internet coverage, and weak governance—none of which is promising for the development of the latest technologies. These obstacles, while challenging, have nevertheless provided fertile ground for innovations using an already widespread technology: the mobile phone.

One of the most important advances in mobile technology has been the rapid growth of mobile banking. Africa has been and continues to be one of the most un-banked populations in the world. Millions of Africans are paid in cash, have no access to social security or financial services, and don’t pay taxes. Mobile banking works to alleviate this problem by offering individual users a convenient way to make payments at retailers with only a basic mobile phone that uses near field communications (NFC), meaning that no Internet connection is necessary. Likewise, in Kenya, Safaricom pioneered mobile money transfers, enabling individuals to easily transfer money to a friend or relative via SMS. The service, called M-Pesa, has reached millions of people who previously had no access to financial services. Such services, while basic, help to improve security, offer a more flexible way to manage funds, and allow individuals to manage their income in a structured way.

Mobile payments also enable consumers to make long-distance purchases, thereby opening retailers up to a diverse body of consumers, irrespective of geography. Since payment is made through a mobile phone, the transactional cost to the retailer is much lower than debit or credit card processing fees. Banks across the continent are also opening their doors to new customers. For instance, in Angola, Banco Angolana de Investimentos (BAI) launched the e-Kwanza, a phone application through which new customers can register and set up their accounts for free.

SMS is also becoming an increasingly invaluable tool in the provision of health care services for those living outside of major urban areas. In Kenya, health care professionals are able to stay in touch with individuals living with HIV through the Weltel Project, while in Nigeria, SMS is being used to track the distribution of mosquito nets.

Mobile technology is also creating business opportunities for entrepreneurs working to develop new health care solutions. Health insurance is one such industry sector. One of the world’s largest “micro-insurance” companies, MicroEnsure, has built a business through the provision of mobile-based health insurance in collaboration with mobile network providers. The company has offices in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Tanzania, and provides insurance services to some of the poorest people on the continent—even those living on less than $4 a day. To date, the company has around 4 million customers.

It is in the business arena that mobile technology is proving to be especially fruitful from a socio-economic perspective. A recent research paper from Forbes Africa in collaboration with Djembe Communications showed that the vast majority of young Africans (around 80 percent) would rather work for themselves than for an existing company—a prospect made more viable by access to mobile technology. In the agricultural sector, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of the continent’s export revenues, young entrepreneurs are creating new solutions for farming industries. M-Farm delivers real-time market information to farmers, helping them to better understand the true market price of crop supplies, as well as to negotiate more advantageous prices with wholesalers and importers. Other simple mobile phone ideas include iCow, which delivers a breeding calendar for cows’ gestation periods, in addition to providing farmers with advice on the best breeding practices.

The mobile phone’s educational capacities aren’t limited to the farming sector. A pilot program in Uganda called MobiLiteracy Uganda uses SMS and audio technology to support home learning, offering daily reading lessons in local languages via the parent’s mobile phone to students who are unable to physically attend classes. Because the lessons are delivered by SMS and audio, illiterate parents are also able to participate. In Kenya a 32-year-old teacher has created a mobile phone-based teaching platform, which acts as a virtual tutor and teacher’s assistant, enabling students to access all of their courses outside of the classroom. It is a for-profit business whose success is based on a high volume of low-cost users. As of November 2015 the service had 500,000 customers.

Utilizing existing technology is a smart way for entrepreneurs to create much-needed solutions across Africa. Foreign direct investment and top-down government investment will continue to improve infrastructure, but in the meantime there is money to be made through the most basic mobile phones. Young business leaders across the continent are creating new solutions, but they remain frustrated by poor access to capital, which prevents them from investing in order to expand. Lack of capital is an ongoing issue in Africa, which is why many young businesses look towards foreign investors for help. There are an increasing number of solutions, such as one provided by the pairing service FACRA, a government-backed venture capital fund in Angola. It acts as a conduit between successful Angolan businesses and foreign investors—an introduction that makes it easy for home-grown businesses to source capital from a range of potential suitors. It also provides an easy-access route for foreign firms looking for opportunities in the country, offering cultural and business initiation services and attractive financial terms for direct investment.

Organizations such as FACRA are supporting enterprises and making it much easier for growing businesses to find ways of expanding nationally and across borders. It is especially important for mobile-based businesses to succeed because they deliver low-cost solutions that have the potential for high returns, not to mention the socioeconomic benefits they provide to communities.

Over the next few years, it is likely that the use of mobile technology—even basic SMS services—will grow. The cost of basic phones has fallen dramatically over recent years and even smartphones are becoming commonplace. Foreign investors now have an opportunity to look at this fast-growing sector as a way of securing long-term gains through businesses that have a strong socio-economic impact, which could provide a win-win scenario for African economies, entrepreneurs, and foreign investors.

Under the Local Capacity Initiative (LCI) Project, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors (CYAs) completed a two day Youth Consultative Workshop from the 26th – 27th October 2017 at the Coco Palm Resorts, Saint Lucia. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss existing HIV/AIDS knowledge and sexual behaviour among CARICOM youth, learn strategies for developing targeted health (HIV/AIDS) messages and enable CYAs to acquire skills in developing briefs to advocate with policymakers at the national and regional level on the priority issues affecting youth. The advocacy strategies developed at the meeting will be incorporated into the PANCAP Regional Advocacy Strategy which is being developed.

The CYAs participated in the LCI Project capacity building training and were awarded a small grant (US$50,000) to implement policy and advocacy activities. The CYAs designed a two-phase project targeting young people aged 15 – 29 to (i) increase knowledge and influence behaviour surrounding HIV/AIDS and (ii) address stigma and discrimination, and advocate for key populations. In the first phase, an electronic Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey was conducted to inform the repackaging of HIV prevention messages to reach the target demographic. Whilst in phase two, an assessment to determine the needs of the target group is currently being conducted. The findings from this assessment will complement the advocacy needs identified at the Regional Youth Leaders Meeting held in April 2017.

The advocacy strategies developed at this meeting will be incorporated into the PANCAP Regional Advocacy Strategy which is being developed.
The CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Programme (CYAP) provides a unique platform for leadership development and collaboration that can strengthen the participation of a more diverse and better-informed youth constituency in CARICOM decision making. The CYAP works within 18 Member States through their CARICOM Youth Ambassadors (CYAs), community Institutions, and other regional and international stakeholders to design, implement and execute programmes and projects to address youth issues (including HIV/AIDS) at the national level within a regional strategic framework.

Read more about the LCI Project here.