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.

One such opportunity has recently been proposed by an organisation called the Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI). One of the most important steps that could be taken in the fight against TB would be the development of new, effective vaccines that can control and reverse the spread of the disease. TBVI have developed a unique funding proposal that can potentially unlock a large amount of funding for research and development of those vaccines. They are essentially asking governments to invest the necessary finance against the potential market worth of the finished vaccines.

This month we will be taking action to make sure the UK gives the proposal its full support.