Multilateral health partnerships remain a cornerstone of Australia’s global health engagement, delivering strong returns on investment and improving health outcomes across the Indo-Pacific. This report explores the value of Australia’s long-standing support for two major multilateral organisations: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, highlighting how their work has helped save millions of lives through innovative financing, market shaping, and strengthened health systems.
While terminology around regional boundaries varies, this report uses “Indo-Pacific” in line with the majority of reviewed policy and strategic documents. In this region, multilateral cooperation has proven essential to tackling entrenched and emerging health threats while fostering sustainable development and regional stability. Australia’s contributions, AUD 1.34 billion to the Global Fund since 2004 and AUD 1.6 billion to Gavi since 2000, have enabled large-scale health initiatives that would be difficult to achieve through bilateral aid alone.
Despite this progress, health challenges remain significant. The Indo-Pacific accounts for 25% of global infections, with 6.7 million people living with HIV. Malaria remains widespread in Papua New Guinea, while drug-resistant strains threaten Southeast Asia. Tuberculosis continues to burden Indonesia, the Philippines, and PNG, and non-communicable diseases now account for 87% of deaths in the Western Pacific—including a rising cervical cancer burden.
This report underscores the strategic importance of sustained investment in multilateral health partnerships as a key pillar of Australia’s development and foreign policy in the region.
