Over the past 10 years, the UK Government, using money raised through taxation, has giving over £1 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.That support has enabled the Global Fund to support over 1000 programs in 151 countries.

Despite the focus on hunger and poverty in the MDGs, under nutrition remains a problem of almost unimaginable proportions. In 2010 it was estimated that 925 people in developing countries were suffering from some form of under nutrition- that’s up from 824 million in 1990.

This month we are introducing a nationwide fundraising and advocacy campaign called Live Below the Line. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of the fact that 1.4 billion people in the world live below the extreme poverty line, on less than £1 a day. We are using the opportunity to raise awareness about the millions of children who die or suffer from undernutrition and to raise funds for the work of RESULTS UK.  

It is a crucial time for global efforts to end poverty. With the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) now fast approaching and mixed progress on the goals, the world is turning its attention to what should replace the MDGs post-2015.

“If TB and HIV are a snake in southern Africa, then the head of the snake is here in South Africa. People come from all over the region to work in our mines and they export TB and HIV, along with their earnings. If we want to kill a snake, we need to hit it on its head.” Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, South Africa

Tuberculosis in Southern Africa’s mines is running rampant. Mine workers in the region have the highest rates of TB in the world, and an estimated 760,000 cases in Southern Africa are linked back to the mines. A combination of social, physical and biological factors are working together to create a ‘perfect storm’ of disease that leaves miners acutely at risk of contracting TB and spreading it to their families and communities. Despite the dangers of mine work, widespread poverty in the region means a job in the industry is the only available option for thousands of men.

On September 4th this year, David Cameron re-shuffled his cabinet. He promoted, demoted an sacked ministers from every department, from health to housing. The Department for International Development was no exception.

When it was founded in 2002 the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) pledged that it would seek to 'help get the most marginalised children into school.' Ten years on, and there are still millions of marginalised children who are systematically denied an education all over the world.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has been possibly the most important initiative to improve global health ever undertaken. Never before have so many nations come together for a joint undertaking with such grand ambitions for global health and the Fund has not disappointed.