Global Action For Fungal Infections (Gaffi)

GAFFI is focussed on improving outcomes for people with fungal diseases across the world. GAFFI is calling for 95-95 by 2025, the objective: 95% of patients with serious fungal infections are diagnosed and treated. Globally, over 300 million people of all ages suffer from a serious fungal infection every year. Of these over 1.66 million people are estimated to die, in comparison deaths from malaria and tuberculosis are 0.6 and 1.8 million respectively. Most serious fungal infections are ‘hidden’ because of other health problems such as - AIDS, cancer, transplantation, or asthma. Some are injury related such as fungal eye infections and a disfiguring skin disease in farmers. Fungal diseases are often neglected worldwide by public health authorities. GAFFI efforts are directed at: 1. Identifying and publicising gaps in diagnostics and treatments for fungal diseases, 2. Consulting on how services could be improved through facilitating training, encouraging companies to expand their markets and recommending improvements in infrastructure, 3. Estimating the burden of serious fungal diseases, country by country. Over 65 countries with a population have been addressed, and many of these are published (view), 4. Develop, implement and evaluate country-wide diagnostic programs - Guatemala (fungal infections in AIDS) the first (view) 5. Influence national and international agencies to ‘adopt’ fungal diseases alongside existing programs including TB, microbiology, AMR, NTDs and incorporation of key generic antifungals onto the WHO Essential Medicines List. 6. Focussed diagnostic improvements for GAFFI’s priority diseases.