New Group to Galvanize Business Role in Combating AIDS, TB and Malaria; GBC Appointed Private Sector ‘Focal Point’ for Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria Board of Directors

NEW YORK, May 4 -- Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, president and CEO of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC), the pre-eminent organization leading the business response to AIDS, announced today that GBC has been selected to represent the private sector as the official “focal point” for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria Board of Directors. GBC will replace the World Economic Forum in this role.

“We are honored to have been selected by companies from around the world to represent them in this critical role,” said Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, president and CEO of GBC. “Public/private partnerships can be a powerful tool in fighting AIDS, TB and Malaria, the deadliest diseases the world has ever faced. We look forward to working closely with the Global Fund and companies around the world in the year to come to identify innovative ways that their strengths can be used to fight these terrible diseases. AIDS is not only the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. It represents a threat to economic growth and the success of individual companies around the world. Almost 200 companies are now members of GBC and in this new role we have the opportunity to find innovative ways to involve them in the work of the Global Fund.”

GBC’s new responsibilities as the official focal point for the private sector will help broaden the involvement of corporations in the work of the Global Fund in a variety of ways. Increasingly, businesses are co-investing in community projects, mobilizing employee giving, focusing their corporate philanthropy and using core business assets and expertise to fight the pandemic all over the world.

The private sector is represented on the Global Fund Board of Directors by Rajat Gupta of McKinsey and Dr. Brian Brink of Anglo-American, two active members of GBC. The organization is scaling-up its staff capacity and will organize a strategic planning process later this year to develop a plan for the private sector’s work with the Global Fund.

In its new role, GBC will also support efforts against TB and Malaria, but will not change its name, nor its primary focus on HIV/AIDS.

About the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC)

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) is the pre- eminent organization leading the business fight against HIV/AIDS. The rapidly-expanding alliance of 200 international companies is dedicated to combating the AIDS epidemic through the business sector’s unique skills and expertise. The mission of the GBC is to harness the power of the global business community to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic. For more information, please visit the GBC website at http://www.businessfightsaids.org -- the leading global resource of company AIDS programs and hub of information relevant to business concerned about AIDS.

For more information on GBC’s role as focal point of the private sector delegation to the Global Fund Board, visit: http://www.businessfightsaids.org/globalfund

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is an independent, public-private partnership established in 2002 that is working to attract significant new resources to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and to innovatively manage and disburse these funds to effective prevention and treatment programs in countries with greatest need. Following the review of four proposal rounds, approvals total US$ 3.1 billion over two years to support programs in 127 countries.

Contact Information

John James

Media Contact

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS

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