Foreign Affairs committee  Very much so. That's the perfect opportunity to hand over to Svend and also Scott, for there is a lot about that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Generally we've learned and had confirmed by many CEOs with whom we talk.... What we are asking from these companies is not CSR. CSR is simply too small. It's a small kind of charitable budget, and that's not the magnitude that would help the Global Fund. When we are successful with private sector partnerships, it is because they realize it's part of their business.

Foreign Affairs committee  First I have a couple of words on how the programs are designed. From the beginning, when the Global Fund was created, we said that this needs to be country-owned and country-driven. Regardless of gender, there needs to be a process at the country level that designs those programs.

Foreign Affairs committee  Malaria is a disease that has been around for thousands of years and has often escaped our efforts to really suppress it. I think we've never before been as successful as we have been over the last couple of years to drive down malaria. I mentioned earlier in the lunch discussion that a country like Vietnam has seen a reduction of 99% of malaria deaths.

Foreign Affairs committee  We actually encourage the private sector very actively, otherwise we wouldn't get what is now 6% to 7% of the total income from the private sector. As I said, it doubled the last time, and we are in the process of doubling that again. The private sector is certainly increasing, and part of my team is working exclusively on the private sector.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm 100% certain that they will increase. We have a number of private sector partnerships in the pipeline, so that's easy to answer. I think maybe the question behind it is, to what extent? I do not expect the private sector to take over the billions of dollars in program expenses.

Foreign Affairs committee  First, it's important to clarify that we're not talking about a goal of eradicating these diseases. That's completely impossible with the tools we have. We would need completely different tools, like very effective vaccines that we currently don't have for these three diseases.

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me translate that. There is a group of diseases called neglected tropical diseases, and they are affecting hundreds of millions of people, often not with as high mortality as AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria, but debilitating over the lifetime. These diseases usually get less attention and are less funded than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, the U.S. has traditionally provided 33% of our total income, which means if we had a replenishment here in Canada of almost 13%, the U.S. at that point pledged $4.3 billion, or a very significant amount. The answer to your question is simple, because we've always been exempted from the gag rule.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. It's always a pleasure to see you, and thanks for your support over the years. Of course we see a lot of challenges and also certainly some risks, no question. I mentioned earlier some particular challenges for the three diseases. You know, there is the kind of gender dimension, and I could mention TB and the challenge of identifying people with TB.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are some big donors, like some neighbours of Canada, that cause some concerns. We're watching that very carefully. I would say that, yes, it's probably a difficult environment. Although the advantage of having done this job for 15 years is that I've seen many crises—political, financial—and the Global Fund has always survived that because there has been this strong commitment and the belief that we are achieving results, so we maintain the confidence and trust, even when the external environment has not been conducive.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are not only the international migrations where migrants reach Canada or Europe, but in Africa there are a lot of migrants from Burundi and Rwanda now, a lot of migrants in Ethiopia and Kenya, and many other countries. We actually have an emergency fund. We created that so we can also respond to those situations.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. This kind of migration is a key issue.

Foreign Affairs committee  I see that as a partnership, not as a competition. I'm not naive; sometimes you might have budgetary competition, but particularly with GPE I've not felt that way. This was in addition to what countries often have pledged to the Global Fund. I think we need both and that's the spirit in which we work on education with GPE and other partners.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think Yemen, first of all, is one of the huge international tragedies. I can't call it otherwise. What is going on there is a real tragedy. The Global Fund has been providing programs for all these diseases—HIV, TB, and malaria—in Yemen for many years. When the civil war started, it obviously became more difficult to deliver drugs and commodities, yet we maintained that even through most of the early phase of the civil war, even when there was no kind of national government anymore with which we could co-operate.