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.  

Every year the rich mines of South Africa produce up to 190,000 kilos of gold.......but at a huge human cost. Due to a combination of social, biological and environmental factors the men that mine this gold have the highest rates of TB in the world. Many of miners are migrant workers, and as they return to their communities in surrounding countries they are bringing with them the deadly TB contracted at the mines, spreading it to between 10-15 people per year.

“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.

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.

In the words of Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN, “climate change is happening right now and it is hitting the poor first, and hardest.” For poor people living in the rural, agricultural areas of the world, extreme weather events (floods, droughts, hurricanes) can often plunge whole families into financial ruin which in turn can lead to malnutrition, sickness and death. In the West we have long prepared for such unexpected phenomena by insuring ourselves, houses and possessions against the elements.

Dear Sophie Gale,

Thank you for your letter to Andrew Mitchell about the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI).  I have been asked to reply.

This is the letter I wrote to Andrew Mitchell for the August action.

I await a response

letter to AM for August action.doc

Dr Charles Tannock MEP, who represents our London group members, submitted this question on GAVI:

Subject: The optimal size of the EU budget for assisting vaccination programmes in the developing world.

"I have been contacted by members of my constituency regarding financial support for GAVI from the EU.

This is the letter I wrote to my MP, Chuka Umunna.

Letter to Chukka Umunna.doc