Madam Anne Sophie Ave, the French Ambassador to Ghana, has visited the Maamobi General Hospital, where she was received jointly by Dr Dorcas Ankfu Okine, Director of the Facility as well as the Madam Cecilia Senoo, Chair, Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).

A statement issued by the French Embassy in Accra, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the visit forms part of activities marking the Sixth Global Fund Replenishment Conference, held in Lyon, France on October 10.

It said the Maamobi General Hospital is one of the facilities that benefited from the Global Fund.

It said Madam Ave was able to meet with officials of the National Disease Control Programmes (NACP), the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP).

It said she also visited the maternity ward of the facility, where she met pregnant women and young mothers receiving Global Fund-funded treatment.

The statement said Madam Ave then met with members of the CCM as well as representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to discuss the modalities for strategic management and monitoring of grants.

It said the end of the morning was dedicated to a meeting with direct beneficiaries of the Global Fund.

It said the Ambassador was able to speak with Mrs Comfort Asamoah-Adu, Executive Director of the West African Programme to Combat AIDS and Sexual Transmitted Infections, the main recipient of the Global Fund.

The statement said this sequence was an opportunity to discuss with different beneficiaries and affected communities about their backgrounds and the challenges they face.

It said the Global Fund has several objectives: maximizing the impact of actions against HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; building resilient and sustainable health systems; promotion and protection of human rights and gender equality and the mobilization of resources.

The statement said since 2002, when it was created, more than $ 40 billion has been allocated to 140 countries to fight these three pandemics.

It said by 2018, programmes supported by the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria had saved 32 million lives worldwide.

The statement said Ghana, the first recipient of a Global Fund grant, has received cumulative disbursements of US $ 817 million since 2002, including about $110 million from France.

It said malaria remains a leading cause of death in Ghana, but since 2006 significant progress had been made in reducing prevalence, incidence and mortality.

The statement said tuberculosis was treated successfully in 85 per cent of cases, but screening coverage was still low, as was the case for HIV.

It said HIV/AIDS remains a significant cause of death and prevalence wad high among key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men).

The statement said new HIV infections do not decrease (19,100 cases/year in 2017), the number of people living with HIV is estimated at 320,000 in 2018.

"On October 10, 2019, France hosted the 6th Global Fund Replenishment Conference in Lyon, meeting the financial needs for the 2020-2022 periods with a financial target of $ 14 billion to help save $ 16 million lives and avoid 234 million new infections in 2030," the statement said.

"The States present at this Conference have met their commitments: the Fund has collected $ 14.02 billion in pledges, including $ 1.4 billion from France, which remains the second largest contributor to the Global Fund since its creation in 2002, after the United States."

It said the Global Fund resources alone will not be sufficient and the Government of Ghana would undoubtedly need strengthen its efforts through increased health budgets to eradicate the three pandemic.