Since 2002, the Global Fund has helped save more than 27 million lives and reduced deaths from three killer infectious diseases – AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – by more than a third in the countries which it invests in.

The UK’s new three-year funding pledge, announced today, Saturday 29 June, will help:

• provide life-saving antiretroviral therapy to more than 3.3 million people with HIV;
• provide TB treatment and care for 2.3 million people;
• provide 120,000 people with treatment for multidrug-resistant TB;
• distribute 92 million mosquito nets to protect children and families from malaria; and
• strengthen health systems and promote global health security.

International Development Secretary, Rory Stewart said:

We’re deeply proud of our efforts with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but far too many people still die from these diseases.

We’re going to continue to invest in controlling and ultimately ending these diseases, and we will be making sure other countries contribute generously.

These diseases cross borders. Therefore, our support is something that helps the poorest people in the world, but is also something that keeps us safe here at home.

British expertise is at the heart of global efforts to tackle AIDS, TB and malaria.

The new pledge will average £467 million a year.

Yesterday (Friday, 28 June) Rory Stewart visited ViiV Healthcare in Hertfordshire – a UK business at the heart of tackling one of these diseases.

ViiV Healthcare has developed a new antiretroviral drug to treat HIV and is voluntarily licencing it. This means the Global Fund can negotiate lower prices and supply the drug in large volumes to developing countries, improving the lives of children and adults living with HIV.

ViiV Healthcare CEO, Deborah Waterhouse, said:

We strongly welcome the UK Government’s renewed pledge to support the Global Fund.

At GSK and ViiV we use our scientific expertise to help fight all three diseases covered by the Fund: HIV, TB and malaria. We recognise the value of partnership in achieving our ambitions to bring sustainable access to innovative treatment and prevention options for people affected by these diseases across the developing world.

We welcome the leadership from the UK Government today and encourage other Governments to follow this lead.

The UK’s investment is crucial as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria continue to blight the lives of people and communities around the world:

• in 2017 more than 2.5 million people died from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;
• every day nearly 1,000 adolescent girls and young women across Africa become infected with HIV;
• TB is now the leading cause of death from an infectious disease; and
• a child still dies of malaria every two minutes.

Through the new pledge, the UK government will encourage stronger private sector engagement in the fight against malaria by doubling the value of up to £100 million of investment from private sector organisations.

The British government is determined to spend aid where it is most needed and deliver the best value for money.

As part of the new funding agreement, the UK will set out performance expectations around key priorities such as:

• improving health systems;
• preventing new infections;
• helping the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised, including women and girls; and
• tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Executive Director of the Global Fund, Peter Sands, said:

The UK’s pledge is a strong message to the world that we must all step up the fight to end epidemics.

An increase of 16 percent is a tremendous show of leadership.

Confronting diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is an essential part of supporting a stable and prosperous world. The UK’s ongoing effort on global health will promote development and ensure we achieve Global Goal Three: good health and well-being for all people by 2030.

Theresa May has today put the UK at the forefront of climate action at the G20, by committing that all UK aid spend will support the transition to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

This makes the UK the first major economy to combine a legally binding 0.7% aid target with a commitment to align support for developing countries with the Paris Agreement.

This will mean that every penny we spend on support for developing countries – whether for education, job creation, or infrastructure – will be compatible with our shared climate change goals.

For example, when building roads or developing energy infrastructure, we will consider the greenest way to do this and use the best materials and design to manage the impacts of climate change that people are already feeling.

This will future-proof our spending, to help people, communities and businesses to better cope with the shocks and stresses of climate change.

In taking this step, the UK will be joining leading development financing institutions such as the Multilateral Development Banks and we will encourage other major donors to take similar action.

This comes as the UK’s new target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 becomes law this week. The secondary legislation was approved by both MPs and peers after receiving a broad welcome from business leaders, climate experts and environmentalists. This makes the UK the first G7 to country to legislate to end its contribution to climate change.

The PM will use her leading role at today’s climate change session in Osaka to call for other G20 nations to take similar action on climate change. She is expected to say:

The facts, which are clear, should guide us: we are running out of time to act. We need a fivefold increase on existing 2030 commitments to remain below 1.5 degrees of warming.

In addition to stronger national commitments, we need determined implementation, and a change in how we invest. And we need to build resilience, both in our own societies and economies, and in the most vulnerable countries.

We can only tackle this crisis, and fully reap the benefits of the transition, if we act together. So I urge everyone here to push for ambition and consider setting their own net zero targets.

On our joint bid with Italy to host COP26 in 2020, she will say:

These next few years are critical. This is why tackling this crisis has become such a high priority for the UK. And it is why we have offered to preside over COP26, in partnership with Italy.

As the first real test of our collective commitment at Paris to continually scale-up our emission reduction efforts over time, COP26 will be a critical moment. We will need to see both a significant ramping up in our existing medium term targets at the country level, and credible plans for what we are doing now to meet existing targets.

Our citizens – and our youth in particular, whose lives will be shaped immeasurably by climate change – demand action. We will be judged by history on how we act in the next few years.

Next year’s COP26 summit will be the largest ever gathering of world leaders to drive international progress towards the goals set in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

A total of 30,000 delegates including up to 150 world leaders would be expected to attend the summit.

The UK has the world’s most concentrated grouping of scientific, civil society, and business expertise on climate change that would help develop the programme and objectives for the summit.

Alongside the main summit, the UK hopes to coordinate a wide-ranging youth programme, working with Italy. This will ensure that young people can make their voices heard and inform global climate policy.

On the UK’s commitment to align aid spending with the Paris Agreement, Tim Wainwright Chief Executive of WaterAid said:

It is encouraging to see the UK government recognise that all investment must be resilient against the growing number of severe droughts, flooding and storms that threaten health and livelihoods.

The poorest communities are being hit hardest by climate change and they are paying for it increasingly through negative impacts on clean and safe water supplies. These communities, are the least resilient to climate events and must be prioritised. Without this, the significant development gains made over the last few decades will be rolled back, leaving hundreds of millions more people without the basic services of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

Theresa May will call on leaders of the world’s largest economies to follow the UK in providing the funding that is urgently needed to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

At the G20 Summit in Osaka the Prime Minister will announce new UK support to the Global Fund to help the organisation save 16 million lives, prevent millions more people becoming infected, and drive forward efforts to tackle these deadly epidemics.

Averaging £467 million a year, the UK’s new three-year funding pledge will help the Global Fund provide medication for over 3 million people living with HIV, treatment and care for over 2 million people suffering from tuberculosis, and 90 million mosquito nets to protect children and families from malaria.

This new funding from the aid budget builds on the UK’s leading role in supporting the work of the Global Fund and in strengthening countries’ health systems and promoting global health security as part of our international development effort.

Since 2002 the work of the Global Fund has helped save more than 27 million lives in over 100 countries and has helped cut the number of deaths from these deadly diseases by more than a third.

But the diseases continue to have a devastating impact, claiming 2.5 million lives around the world in 2017, with the challenge of drug and insecticide resistance undermining work to tackle these epidemics.

A child still dies from malaria every two minutes and every day nearly 1,000 adolescent girls and young women across Africa get infected with HIV. Tuberculosis is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, and the number one cause of death from an infectious disease.

Ahead of October’s replenishment conference in Lyon the Global Fund says it needs to raise another £11 billion in order to get international efforts to fight these diseases back on track.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

We need urgent international action and a truly collective response if we are to tackle threats to global health security, prevent infections spreading across borders, and halt the continued spread of deadly diseases.

Today I am calling on G20 countries to follow the UK’s lead in supporting the vital work of the Global Fund and its relentless efforts to tackle AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world.

Not only do these diseases cause untold suffering to those who fall ill, they hold back whole countries’ development.

I am deeply proud of the leading role the UK plays in international development and the life-saving impact of our aid spending.

The pledge we are making today will save millions of lives and help to build a healthier and more prosperous world – and that is firmly in our national interest

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:

Infections and deaths from diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, rotavirus and pneumonia have declined more than anyone thought possible 20 years ago. Much of this progress is owed to the funding and health products provided by organizations like the Global Fund, which the UK helped create, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

But the job is not yet finished, and continued progress is not guaranteed. Today’s commitment by the people of the UK via the Global Fund is a positive step forward in the global fight against these diseases, and will help to save millions of lives.

Founder of the Elton John Aids Foundation, Sir Elton John said:

Last week in Paris President Macron and I called on the world to support Replenishment of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. It is with profound respect that I thank the UK government for today’s historic pledge to help do just that.

This sets an extraordinary example for others to follow and shows that in the matter of saving millions of lives and eradicating some of the world’s greatest killer diseases there is a shared vision and commitment to reach Global Goal 3.

International Development Secretary, Rory Stewart said:

We’re deeply proud of our efforts with the Global Fund to tackle AIDS, TB and malaria, but far too many people still die from these diseases.

We’re going to continue to invest in controlling and ultimately ending these diseases, and we will be making sure other countries contribute generously.

These diseases cross borders. Therefore our support is something that helps the poorest people in the world but is also something that keeps us safe here at home.

The Global Fund has set targets for private sector investment in its latest replenishment drive. The UK Government will use a proportion of its new investment to encourage the private sector to support efforts to fight malaria by doubling the value of up to £100 million of their contributions to the Global Fund to tackle this disease.

British expertise is at the heart of global efforts to tackle these diseases, including UK company ViiV Healthcare in Hertfordshire who have developed a new antiretroviral drug to treat HIV. ViiV is voluntarily licencing the drug which means the Global Fund can negotiate low prices and buy the drug in large volumes to improve the lives of children and adults with HIV in developing countries.

The two-year project, which is the first of its kind, will review the current laws on how and where marriages can take place – many of which date back to the 19th Century.

It will look at removing unnecessary red-tape to increase the choice and lower the cost of venues. It could open up opportunities for civil ceremonies at sea, in private homes or military sites for service personnel.

Subject to the findings from the independent Law Commission the changes would ensure couples can marry in a way that is individually meaningful for them, while continuing to preserve the dignity of marriage ceremonies.

Separately, the Government will accelerate plans to allow civil weddings and civil partnerships to be held outside and will look to implement these through secondary legislation, subject to any necessary consultation.

Any new venues would have to meet the existing test of solemnity and dignity.

Welcoming this progress Prime Minister Theresa May said:

As both Home Secretary and Prime Minister I have been proud to sponsor the legislation that created equal marriage, and to extend civil partnerships to ensure all couples are given the same choices in life.

The vital institution of marriage is a strong symbol of wider society’s desire to celebrate commitment between partners. But we can do more to bring the laws on marriage ceremonies up to date and to support couples in celebrating their commitment.

This review will look at how we can ensure marriage keeps pace with modern Britain.

The Government recognises the role of religious services as a preferred option for many couples, and values the continuing status of the Church of England as the established church in England.

However, a Law Commission report in 2015 raised concerns around marriage laws, citing a patchwork of inconsistent and highly technical provisions, which have lacked fundamental reform since 1836.

Under current law couples are limited in their choice of wedding location. Civil ceremonies must take place at register offices or in approved premises that have been licensed for the purpose by local authorities.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said:

Getting married is a deeply personal decision, so we want couples to have greater choice in how and where they celebrate their commitment.

Whilst we will always preserve the dignity of marriage, people from all walks of life should be able to express their vows in a way that is meaningful to them.

This review will look at the red tape and outdated rules around weddings – making sure our laws are fit for modern life.

The Law Commission will now work with a wide variety of groups, including faith leaders and those with experience of conducting marriages, to examine how best to reduce red tape and ensure we have a simpler, fairer system that provides more choice, genuine alternatives to the cost of an approved venue or being restricted to a register office.

A meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) took place in Vienna on 28 June 2019 to take stock and discuss the latest developments under both sanctions-lifting and implementation of nuclear-related commitments. Under the terms of the JCPOA, the Joint Commission is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the agreement.

The Joint Commission was chaired, on behalf of the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, by EEAS Secretary General Helga Schmid and was attended by the E3+2 (China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom) and Iran at the level of Political Directors/ Deputy Foreign Ministers.

JCPOA remains a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture, endorsed unanimously by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Furthermore, in light of the recent tensions, its preservation continues to be essential for the regional stability and security.

In view of recent concerning statements and developments, participants recalled the key importance of continued full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides. At the same time, participants recalled that the lifting of sanctions is an essential part of the agreement and reviewed their respective commitments in this regard. They also took stock of respective efforts aimed at mitigating the negative impact of US withdrawal and re-imposed US sanctions, actions for which they have repeatedly expressed deep regret.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom informed participants that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU Member States and that the first transactions are being processed. Ongoing complementary cooperation with the Iranian corresponding entity (STFI), which has already been established, will speed up. They confirmed that some EU Member States were in the process of joining INSTEX as shareholders, the special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate business with Iran. They are also working to open INSTEX to economic operators from third countries.

Participants noted good progress, among others, on the modernisation of the Arak research reactor, and the stable isotope production project as part of the conversion of the Fordow facility, as foreseen in the JCPOA. They underscored the importance of the projects in terms of nuclear non-proliferation. On Arak, participants particularly welcomed progress made by co-chairs China and the United Kingdom, including the signature of the contract between China and Iran on transient analysis. The Joint Commission reaffirmed its firm commitment to fully support these nuclear projects, including the timely completion of the modernisation of the Arak Research Reactor and the supply of necessary equipment. Participants were briefed on the ongoing progress of projects in the area of civil nuclear cooperation under Annex III of the JCPOA.

Participants underlined the key role played by the IAEA, the only impartial body in charge of the monitoring of the implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231 in order to verify the exclusive peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme.

As part of the ongoing work on sanctions and nuclear issues, the Joint Commission tasked experts to look into practical solutions in particular for the export of low enriched uranium (LEU) and heavy water under appropriate arrangements. In parallel, they will also continue to intensify efforts as regards sanctions lifting by convening specialised and focused experts discussions in line with the commitments under paragraph 8 of the Joint Statement of the Joint Commission meeting at the ministerial level on 6 July 2018 aimed at providing practical solutions in order to maintain the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran.

Under the terms of the JCPOA, the Joint Commission remains the relevant forum for dialogue to address all issues of concern.

Participants agreed to keep JCPOA implementation under close review and it was decided to convene the Joint Commission at ministerial level in the near future.