L’Initiative: Stepping up efforts for a more effective fight against pandemics

Set up by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in 2011, “L’Initiative” aims to facilitate access to financing from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, improve the efficiency of the management of Global Fund grants, and provide complementary catalytic support to improve the environment of the fight against pandemics.

During the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference in September 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron made two announcements: an increase in France’s contribution to the Global Fund (€1.6 billion) and a rise in the budget set aside for L’Initiative from 9% to 20%, representing a budget of about €319 million over a three-year period.

This commitment by France to make the fight against pandemics a priority was reiterated in May 2023 during the Presidential Development Council, the objective being to “Build resilience to health risks, including pandemics, by investing in primary health systems and supporting training for health workers in fragile countries.”

Complementary forms of action to address pandemics

Ahead of the 2023-2025 financing cycle, L’Initiative is making changes to its forms of action. While the mechanism for technical assistance missions brings improvements that are now more sustainable in the countries of operation, increased funding is allocated to the Project Channel and the Accelerator, formerly the Pilot Channel.

The Project Channel finances projects that address priority issues, identified by L’Initiative as being complementary to Global Fund programmes, through innovative and structuring approaches.

The Accelerator complements the two “traditional” operational channels of L’Initiative. Based on data collected from its projects, through the monitoring of the thematic areas supported and results indicators, and the needs expressed by its beneficiaries and partners, L’Initiative identifies new opportunities for action and challenges to address that were previously neglected. The objectives of this third channel are to create a structuring catalytic effect and be a transforming force able to address the neglected challenges of addressing pandemics and supporting health systems. It also aims to bring about and support solutions that will become sources of learning for a future scaling up.

 

L’Initiative is a unique tool for France’s global health objectives and contributes to our country’s long-standing efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular access to health and well-being for all.  ANNE-CLAIRE AMPROU, Ambassador for Global Health

  2022, the year of the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, was a milestone for L’Initiative, marking a growing ambition through the increase in its budget. With its updated strategy, it is gearing up to strengthen its capacity to fight against the pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in eligible countries.   ÉRIC FLEUTELOT, Technical Director of the Major Pandemics Unit, Health Department of Expertise France

Health human resources a priority

A number of countries are experiencing shortages in health human resources, which have been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the new Global Fund financing cycle for 2023-2025, support for health human resources, which is set out in France’s global health strategy, is more than ever a priority for L’Initiative.

To address people’s needs, strengthen health systems and allow everyone to live in good health, it is essential to develop, increase and maintain the knowledge, skills and practices of health personnel. By financing activities to strengthen health human resources, L’Initiative aims to contribute to training health personnel and improving their geographical distribution.

Emergency support in Ukraine and transgender persons: concrete results in 2022

2022 marked the first steps of an expanded Group with a comprehensive, complementary and unrivalled range of services.

In this respect, the volume of new projects signed by AFD Group stood at €12 billion for a total of 1,100 financing agreements signed. The Group draws on the diverse expertise of more than 3,600 officers working on the financing and implementation of 4,200 projects.

In line with the direction of AFD Group’s action, 62% of the projects signed during the year contribute to the fight against gender inequality, and more than €6 billion of financing was committed for the climate, representing about 80% of France’s contribution to the UNFCCC climate finance target.

AFD, Expertise France and Proparco have merged their commitments for the SDGs within a Group which, from a social perspective and in terms of reducing inequality, has provided 64 million people with access to an improved health system, and allowed 4.2 million women to benefit from better social protection. For biodiversity and the climate, 1.2 million hectares of marine areas and 35 million hectares of forest areas have benefited from a contribution to the restoration of ecosystems, while the production and release of 10.1 million tonnes of CO2 have been avoided by strengthening the circular economy and raising awareness of sustainable energies.

 

In 2022, in the context of the war in Ukraine, L’Initiative acted quickly to allocate €120,000 of exceptional support to its long-standing Ukrainian partners, AFEW and 100%LIFE. In December, the creation of a €5 million emergency fund was followed by the first commitments in January 2023. It has enabled Ukrainian NGOs to ensure the continuity of care for the population and implement emergency activities during the winter of 2022-2023 to provide people with access to health services.

L’Initiative has also supported the REVU Trans project in Côte d’Ivoire, led by Enda Santé, which primarily targets transgender persons. The overall objective is to improve their access to health services. In 2020, 75% of transgender persons in the country said that they had never benefited from a healthcare service. It is essential for L’Initiative to support these people, who are often discriminated against, to protect their rights and address their specific needs. In view of their precarious socio-economic conditions, the aim is also to promote their inclusion and increase their representation in health initiatives.

 

• 7,050 workers in health and social facilities have benefited from capacity building activities under 67 projects supported by L’Initiative 

• 203,367 people have benefited from services (prevention, access to care, treatment, screening) provided by the projects supported by L’Initiative, with as many women as men

• 102 normative, strategic and/or operational documents have been prepared or revised through the contribution of the projects, highlighting the capacity of the projects supported to develop public health policies in countries

 

The complete results of L'Initiative for 2022 are available in the Annual Report (English Version coming soon)