Standard Bank partners with the Global Fund to eradicate HIV/AIDS in Africa

Sola David-Borha is the CE: Africa Regions for Standard Bank Group and is the mastermind behind the drive to empower Africa. She is an innovator and passionate about helping communities reach their full economic potential.

Speaking about Standard Bank Group’s partnership with the Global Fund, she shares her insights and inspiration. “We are so much more than just a bank” she says. “Standard Bank is committed to

Africa’s progress, prosperity and transformation. All that we do – from financing large-scale infrastructure deals to designing innovative technology so our customers can bank faster and easier from anywhere – is done with this goal in mind, as was our 2008 partnership with the Global Fund.

A financing institution as well as a “21st-century partnership” organisation, the Global Fund was designed back in 2002 to eradicate three modern-day plagues: malaria, tuberculosis and, the current scourge of the developing world, HIV/AIDs. Its modern approach to global health, which emphasises that impacted countries determine themselves where and how to best fight the aforementioned epidemics with the resources given to them, has resulted in great success. To date, the Global Fund has saved hundreds of millions of lives through partnerships with governments, civil society and the private sector, and has provided prevention, treatment and care services to millions of people in Africa, thus helping to revitalise entire communities, strengthen local health systems and improve economies.

In 2008, we (Standard Bank Group) partnered with the Global Fund, providing pro bono support to the organisation’s grant recipients in selected African countries and, so, ensured that funds were efficiently and accurately distributed. The partnership proved so successful on a number of levels that we renewed and extended it in 2015. It’s a collaboration that does more than improve lives, it shows that healthy nations build prosperous economies.

Through this extended collaboration, we have provided essential financial contributions to Global Fund programmes on the continent and have also implimented employee and customer campaigns to harness financial advocacy support.

In 2015, Steven Parkinson, Manager of Private Sector Partnerships at the Global Fund, remarked that financial and management skills play a key role in extending the impact of donor funding. He further said that the Global Fund looks forward to continuing their work with Standard Bank.

 Standard Bank