Reaching vulnerable populations: lessons from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Since its inception in 2002 - in partnership with civil society, donors, governments, people affected by the target diseases and the private sector - the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has supported and championed country ownership of programmes that, together, have saved over 20 million lives.1 While substantial progress has been made, attempts to achieve target 3.3 of the sustainable development goals - i.e. to end epidemics of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), malaria, neglected tropical diseases and tuberculosis by 2030 - are being hampered because services are failing to reach vulnerable and excluded populations.