On May 14, at 19:00 p.m., Senior Minister Ieng Mouly, Chair of the National AIDS Authority and Board Member of the Global Fund attended and delivered his remarks in the 43rd Global Fund Virtual Board Meeting. His remarks are as follows:
Thank you Lady Roslyn for allowing me to speak.
On behalf of my constituency, the WPR constituency, I would like to thank the Executive Director, Peter Sands, for his comprehensive oral report. I thank him for the recap of events and the progress made since our last Board meeting. We agree with his assessments of the challenges and priorities we face under the current circumstances of COVID-19 threat. We appreciate his reflections on the Global Fund's overall mission and role within the global health community. His weekly update with the Board, during the last few weeks, has been very useful.
We commend the Board Leadership, the Executive Director, and the Secretariat for organizing this Board meeting as planned, through virtual means.
Our constituency applauds all the arrangements put in place to respond to COVID-19. This includes the flexibility in the implementation of the current grants, the establishment of the COVID-19 Response Mechanism, and the guidance on the use of funds for countries in their response to COVID-19.
However, we are concerned about disruptions of the three diseases programs, by the coronavirus pandemic, that may revert the gain we have achieved year over year in the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. Despite the threat of COVID-19, we must continue to fulfill our core mission and not divert investment from the three diseases programs.
We are concerned about the upcoming economic crisis that will put budgetary pressure on donors when fulfilling their pledge for funding and on countries in their domestic resource mobilization to co-finance the GF programs.
We recognize the importance of involvement of community at all stages of the grant cycle. We believe that the community health services will continue to be a fundamental element of a resilient health system.
As my Board Member-two-year-term is coming to an end, this would be normally my last Board Meeting. Last week, at the virtual conference of our constituency members, I informed them of my situation. We will endorse the current Alternate Member to be the next Board Member and we will elect a new Alternate Member whenever Vietnam, the designate host country, is ready to organize the next person-to-person meeting. In case we cannot physically meet in the near future, we may turn to the virtual meetings. In this case, we will request the assistance of the Governance team.
Finally, I take this opportunity to thank the Board Leadership, the Executive Director, the Secretariat, and all Board Members for extending me friendship and cooperation. I will cherish our cooperative relationship. Furthermore, I am sure that GF will continue to successfully achieve its core missions in saving millions of lives.
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