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Introducing "Treatment4All": a campaign run by Solidarité Sida and partners

Published 18 January 2021 in News

Solidarité Sida and its partners led the "Treatment4All" campaign from June to October 2019, in the run up to the replenishment conference for the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which took place in Lyon on 10 October. Focus 2030 provided technical support for this highly strategic campaign, which inspired action on a crucial issue.

What was at stake?

The Sustainable Development Goals call for an end to Aids, TB and Malaria by 2030 (target 3.3 of SDG 3). The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria plays a crucial role, and millions of lives depend on its programmes and financing. Since the Global Fund was created in 2002, it has been supported by over 60 countries and saved over 32 million lives.

Every year, across the world, the Global Fund:

• provides antiretroviral treatments for HIV to 18.9 million people;
• enables 5.3 million people to receive treatment for tuberculosis;
• distributes 131 million mosquito nets in those countries most affected by malaria.

However, despite these achievements, and even with the arrival of triple therapy treatments which have improved the lives of many patients, many people remain without access to treatment. Over a million HIV-positive children are still waiting for pediatric care, and the number of HIV infections is rising in North Africa, Eastern Europe and in Central Asia. In parallel, the deadly tuberculosis (TB) pandemic kills over 1.6 million people every year and the disease is becoming increasingly resistant. And for the first time in a decade, the number of malaria cases is also rising sharply. This is highly worrying, and a key reason to mobilise the international community in order for donor countries and so-called "developing" countries to raise the necessary funding to continue and accelerate the fight against the three pandemics.

This fight is far from over. Together, the three pandemics kill 8,000 people every day. 5,000 people are infected with HIV daily, while 2,800 die from it; 1 child dies from malaria every two minutes; and tuberculosis remains the world’s most deadly infectious disease.

In 2019, the Global Fund estimated that 14 billion dollars would be necessary over the following three years in order to step up the fight against Aids, TB and Malaria. With world leaders of the main donor countries due to meet on 10 October 2019 in France for the Global Fund’s 6th replenishment conference, where they would announce their contributions for the next financing cycle, it was essential to begin building public awareness and support from early 2019 in order to reach an ambitious outcome on the day.

Objectives

This was the background to the Treatment4All campaign, which ran from June to October 2019 in the run-up to the replenishment conference. The campaign was led by Solidarité Sida and its partners, and resulted in a wave of public support for universal access to treatment. Thanks to the many iconic voices supporting the campaign, the question of ensuring "treatment for all" became a focus for political and media attention, leading to strong support for France’s leadership on global health and the fight against Aids.

The campaign had the following objectives:

Provide greater visibility and awareness for the three major pandemics, and showcase the effectiveness and impact of the Global Fund’s work, notably in developing countries
Create a wave of public support to encourage increased contributions from donor countries to the Global Fund.

The campaign strategy

Solidarité Sida took their message to the public in a broad and engaging mobilisation campaign, delivered jointly with French and international civil society partners. To maximise impact, interest and media coverage, the campaign was integrated into Solidarité Sida’s popular summer festival, Solidays, reaching an estimated 230,000 participants. The campaign was also endorsed and promoted by over 300 influential personalities (artists, youtubers, and other household names). It was also timed to coincide with the main preparatory meetings for the G7 (presided in 2019 by France) and mobilisation continued throughout the summer period. This helped to influence the different legislative and financial decision-making processes on donor countries’ forthcoming pledges to the Global Fund.

Main activities

Throughout the campaign, Solidarité Sida joins in advocacy and coordination work with all of its French and international partners across the world.
21 June 2019: The campaign is launched at the Elysée (the Presidential residence) with President Macron and Elton John, representing the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Promotion of the campaign takes place in parallel at the Solidays festival.
19 September 2019: A poster campaign is launched, reaching over 15 million people.
3 October 2019: 300 influential personalities endorse the campaign, 250 NGOs across the world come on board, and 225,000 young people demonstrate their support.
7 October 2019: Solidarité Sida produce a fake news video which quickly goes viral, featuring Donald Trump announcing the "end of Aids". The video is viewed 8 million times in three days, and sparks much debate and coverage in the media.

Results

The Global Fund replenishment conference hosted by France achieved its goal of raising 14 billion dollars, not only from donor countries across the world, but also from the private sector and private foundations. According to the Global Fund Sixth Replenishment Investment Case Report, these funds will save 16 million lives and avoid 234 million infections or cases of Aids, TB and Malaria between 2021 and 2023.

By ensuring that the issue became and remained centre-stage, and by supporting and encouraging France’s diplomatic efforts to secure financial commitments, the Treatment4all campaign played a direct part in making a success of the 6th Global Fund replenishment conference.

An innovative campaign

We might not expect development financing or the needs of an international organisation working on pandemics in poor countries to raise much interest or sympathy from the general public. Indeed, such questions often appear too technical or irrelevant to everyday life, or less important than other global issues such as climate change. But Solidarité Sida and its partners were able to develop a campaign with a simple and appealing message to the public, media and politicians: which was that alongside France, all countries had the means and the duty to commit to providing Treatment4All and bringing an end to the three major pandemics.

The secret of success?

1. The perfect timing: the campaign was launched at the end of June 2019 during the Solidays festival, the perfect atmosphere to kickstart momentum and excellent media coverage, four months before the replenishment conference.
2. A simple, appealing message: #Treatment4All, focused principally on the fight against Aids (the Global Fund also tackles TB and malaria, but these are less well-known in France) and based on the simple principle of equal access for all to health and healthcare.
3. Endorsement from influential personalities and household names which boosted visibility, mainly through visuals and photographs of those supporting the campaign, notably President Macron et Elton John.
4. Support from French and international NGOs for the campaign.
5. The combination of music, enthusiasm and positive messaging ("a world without Aids is possible"), along with images and visuals reminding people of the need for urgent action.
6. The experience, know-how, means and networks of those who ran the campaign. Solidarité Sida and its partners have the ability to quickly and professionally organise large-scale public events, to raise significant funding, to obtain donated logistical and communication support, to mobilise thousands of volunteers, and to achieve privileged access to decision-makers and journalists.