New York and Geneva, October 28, 2026 – AVAC applauds the appointment of Mark Dybul as Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. His return to the Global Fund comes at a pivotal moment for global health, as funding pressures, political threats and persistent inequities threaten hard-won progress against the three diseases.
“As a former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and previous Executive Director of the Global Fund, Dybul is uniquely qualified to fill this role,” said Suraj Madoori, AVAC’s Policy Advocacy Director. “His global health leadership, experience and deep and durable partnerships are needed now more than ever to translate political commitments and resources into lifesaving impact, especially as the Global Fund heads into its 9th Replenishment and the organization develops its next strategy for the future beyond 2028.”
The challenges ahead demand bold leadership and renewed urgency. The introduction of transformative new tools to prevent and treat all three diseases give us unprecedented opportunities to accelerate progress – but come in the midst of significant political and economic challenges. Realizing the promise requires ambitious targets, affordable prices, community leadership and coordinated actions to ensure scientific innovation reaches the people and communities that need them, quickly and equitably.
“Just last week, AVAC called on the Global Fund and other actors to commit to reaching at least three million people with lenacapavir for PrEP by the end of 2027, with a push to reach more people, faster,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC. “With lenacapavir now and potentially alimatravir coming soon, the opportunity is now to turn scientific innovation into impact at scale. Mark Dybul’s proven track record of working with governments, communities, donors and product developers to ensure products are rolled out with speed, scale and equity makes me more optimistic than ever about the Global Fund’s role in the future of HIV prevention and in global health generally.”
AVAC is grateful to Peter Sands’ strong leadership of the Global Fund over the past eight years and looks forward to continued collaboration with Dybul and the Global Fund to advance evidence-based, community-led approaches that expand access to innovation, strengthen accountability and sustain global health progress. To deliver on this ambition, the Global Fund must strengthen and clarify new procurement mechanisms to maximize purchasing power and sustain access to lifesaving tools across HIV, TB and malaria and mobilize and leverage new resources from governments, donors, development finance institutions and other partners to close critical funding gaps, accelerate the introduction of new health technologies and protect hard-won gains. Dybul must lead the Global Fund through a changing global health architecture, defining its role and strengthening coordination across bilateral and multilateral partners to ensure that evolving funding mechanisms reinforce country ownership, community leadership and resilient health systems.