Tata Trusts, Global Fund join hands to fight diseases

Tata Trusts and the Global Fund have joined hands to launch India Health Fund (IHF) aimed at addressing key health challenges in the country - starting with malaria and tuberculosis.
IHF looks at catalysing agility and innovation within large-scaled programmes of The Global Fund and the government of India, Tata Trusts said in a statement.
Addressing infectious diseases like TB and malaria, the fund plans to support programmes and projects that develop new products or strategies for innovative business models and innovative partnerships or financing mechanisms that significantly scale existing effective solutions, it added.
Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata said: "Infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis though widespread are treatable and controllable. In order to overcome the challenges associated with this issue, we should use innovations to create models that are not geographically bound and can be replicated anywhere in the world."

IHF will endeavor to combine innovation and effort for the implementation of the project on a large scale, he added.
Global Fund Director of External Relations Christoph Benn said the joint initiative will provide new opportunities for philanthropy to improve the lives of millions of people in India and beyond.

"We are sure it will become a model for many countries around the world providing additional vital resources for health," Benn added.
Speaking on the occasion, US Ambassador to India, Richard R Verma said: "The development challenges we face today truly require 'all hands on deck' and it's more critical than ever that we combine all of our resources and work hand-in-hand to prevent, treat and care for these diseases.

"That is why the United States - through USAID - plans to join the India Health Fund."
The investments made by IHF will be aligned to national strategies and link to clear pathways of scale including government platforms, private health networks, open source technology or sustainable organisation growth, the statement said.
Tata Trusts are philanthropic organisations owning two-third of the stock holding of Tata Sons - the apex company of the Tata group of companies.
The Global Fund is a 21st-century partnership against diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It mobilises and invests nearly USD 4 billion a year to support programme run by local experts in more than 100 countries.