Celebrating Youth Leadership in Health: 24 Years of the Global Fund Partnership

Today, on International Youth Day, WACI Health, as proud co-hosts of GFAN Africa alongside Impact Santé Afrique, celebrates the vital role young people play in shaping the future of health across the continent.

This year, we mark 24 years of The Global Fund partnership. Since its inception in 2002, the partnership has saved 70 million lives, a testament to what global solidarity and country leadership can deliver together. Over the past two decades, the combined death rate from AIDS, TB, and malaria has been reduced by 63%, and life expectancy has significantly increased in low- and middle-income countries.

The Global Fund partnership invests up to US$4 billion a year in more than 100 of the countries hardest hit by HIV, TB, and malaria. These investments not only treat disease, but they actively strengthen the health and community systems around it. Vital to those community systems are young people, who play an important role in youth-led advocacy, peer outreach, and accountability. They are not just beneficiaries of health programs, but crucial partners in building and defending them.

To celebrate International Youth Day, we are highlighting three incredible GFAN Africa youth advocates whose life journeys parallel the 24 years of The Global Fund:

• Edith Ateba (Impact Santé Afrique, Cameroon): Edith works to represent the voices of young people in the spaces where the future of health is being shaped. Her vision for the future is an Africa where malaria is no longer a threat to children’s lives or their future.

• Alexis Kabambi (Corps des jeunes contre le Paludisme, DRC): Alexis mobilizes young people to demand healthcare that is accessible to everyone. His vision for the next ten years is to see African children growing up healthy in their communities.

• Joyce Ngetuny (Network of TB Champions Kenya): Joyce works to ensure young people and communities have a meaningful voice in shaping health policies and decisions. She hopes to see a generation free from the fear of HIV and TB, with equitable access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care.

Continued investment in health, through proven mechanisms such as The Global Fund, means that the visions of Edith, Alexis, and Joyce can become a reality.

At GFAN Africa, we deeply value the leadership, insight, and energy that young people bring to shaping our network and the future of healthcare across the continent. Across Africa, sustainable progress depends on ensuring young advocates are not just consulted, but meaningfully integrated into policy design, resource mobilization, and community accountability. We remain dedicated to elevating youth voices and defending the platforms they need to build an equitable, disease-free future for all.