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.

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

Despite repeated pledges from the international community, including making universal education the second Millennium Development Goal, there are still over 60 million children out of school. What's more, an estimated one third of those children are living with a disability. That's a grossly disproportionate number compared with disability levels in the general population. 

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. 

The European Union is the world's single largest funder of international development, spending €39.6 billion between 2006-2013 alone. The next EU budget, which runs from 2014-2020, is currently under discussion and 2012 is a  key year for influencing those discussions. 

For previous budgets the EU has promised to guarantee that 20% of spending from their development related budgets would go directly to basic health and education. However, this commitment hasn't been honoured in the most recent budget.

In the year 2015, world leaders should be coming together to celebrate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the broadest, most ambitious and wide raging statement on the future of human development ever conceived.

As the western world continues to suffer economic strife, funding for global development has never been harder to come by. To maintain finance for the fight against poverty we, as advocates, need to be making smart requests that recognise the difficult economic situations many governments find themselves in. We need to support new and innovative means for raising that money which is still so dearly needed.

Last week, the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria announced that it would no longer be disbursing its 11th round of funding due to insufficient liquidity as a result of donors failing to meet funding pledges.

The Global Fund is the single largest financier of anti-AIDS, TB and Malaria programs worldwide. It is also hugely successful with a proven track record for delivering results on the ground -through their AIDS programs alone they have saved an estimated 6 million lives since 2002.