If Emmanuel Macron did not attend the Global Fund reconstitution conference for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, that does not mean France is withdrawing its participation in financing the fight against HIV. But with the 2026 budget stalled in Parliament, the government cannot currently commit any amount.
France was conspicuously absent at the eighth reconstitution conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. On November 21, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa, the objective was funding the fight against HIV/AIDS for the 2026-2028 period. Every three years, indeed, states and private actors (philanthropists, companies, NGOs…) commit to the amounts they intend to devote. Emmanuel Macron was supposed to announce France’s level of participation for the next three years, which he could not do… due to the budget not having been voted in Parliament. “Budget discussions are ongoing”, replied the Élysée to têtu· a few days before the conference. But “we intend to remain one of the main donors to the Global Fund”, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms to us.
Justifiably, concern is warranted among HIV/AIDS advocacy groups. “Macron condemns millions of patients and sabotages France’s legacy in global health”, wrote five associations, including Aides and Sidaction, in a statement released on the evening of November 21. “France bears a heavy responsibility. By not announcing any contribution, it lets more than two million people die and deprives nearly 3 million people of access to antiretroviral treatment”, continues the text, which acknowledges that France played a pivotal role in 2019, raising its effort to 1.6 billion euros and becoming the second contributor behind the United States. In the wake, the LGBTQIA+ commission of the Ecologists also published a statement on Instagram titled “France abandons the fight against HIV/AIDS”.
“France has assured us of its support”
It is to forget that Emmanuel Macron, whose majority was defeated at the 2024 legislative elections, no longer has the power to commit France for several years to such amounts. “Jean-Noël Barrot [the Minister of Foreign Affairs] participated in the reconstitution conference, but could not make an announcement because the budget is under debate in a divided assembly. It is only a postponement of the announcement, which will take place once the budget debates are finished”, explains our source at the Quai d’Orsay. “France has assured us of its support, which has been constant regardless of its financial difficulties, and has promised to commit to an amount within a month”, confirms to têtu· the Global Fund, which rejoices in having saved 70 million lives in two decades and an investment of 69 billion dollars.
Reste qu’à ce jour, le Fonds mondial est encore loin de l’objectif affiché de 18 milliards de dollars, n’ayant obtenu qu’un peu plus de 11 milliards promis par les États et les financeurs privés. Mais le pire a été évité : les États-Unis, qui se désengagent de la santé mondiale depuis le retour de Donald Trump à la Maison-Blanche, ont malgré tout promis 4,6 milliards de dollars, contre 6 milliards lors de la précédente reconstitution (dont seuls 4 milliards ont été réellement décaissés). Cette année, les bons élèves sont l’Allemagne (1 milliard d’euros, soit environ 1,15 milliard de dollars), le Royaume-Uni (850 millions de livres sterling, environ 1,1 milliard de dollars) et le Canada (720 millions de dollars américains).
The objective of raising 18 billion is ambitious. If the Fund’s financing had surged to 18.6 billion promised for the 2020-2022 period (versus 12.2 billion for 2017-2019), it then eroded to return, in 2023-2025, to its pre-COVID epidemic level, at 11.7 billion dollars disbursed. Or, thanks to the scientific feat of developing an injectable PrEP, one can now hope to see the end of HIV: the world must now mobilize the means to do so.
