We all want to ensure that our children have healthy lives. Yet TB – the world’s most deadly infectious disease – is responsible for far too many unnecessary deaths. Diagnosis and treatment rates are unacceptably low. On 20 November, the United Nations’ Stop TB Partnership released an ambitious new Global Plan to End TB, showing how the world can end tuberculosis (TB) within a generation. At the current rate of progress, it will take 150 years to end TB. The new Plan shows what we need to do now to meet the target of ending TB by 2030.
Saturday 24 October marked World Polio Day 2015. This year, the world is in a stronger position than ever to end polio, putting us on the verge of eradicating a human disease for only the second time in history. India and South-East Asia have been declared polio-free, outbreaks in the Middle East and Horn of Africa appear to have ended, and Nigeria has stopped transmission of wild polio. All have been removed from the list of endemic countries. Now, only two countries in the world have recorded wild polio cases in 2015: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Last week, a day after the new Sustainable Development Goals, now known as the ‘Global Goals’, were formally adopted at the Global Goals summit in New York, David Cameron took to the stage to call on the world to make sure the new Global Goals leave no one behind. This month, he has the opportunity to show the world how to turn these words into action. Here’s how.
This month our campaign ‘Leave No-One Behind: Health For All’ really hits its stride! Right now, the UK’s Department for International Development is developing a new ‘Health System Strengthening Framework’ that could enable them to become a real champion for Health For All. This month we’re asking you to write to your MP to urge them to find out about DFID’s new framework, and ensure it’s as strong as it can be and prioritises leaving no-one behind.
It’s Summer! (you can tell by the rain and cloud). Over August, we know lots of people will be holidaying, including many of you and some MPs as well. So we’re deliberately holding back on some of our ‘Health For All’ targeted actions until September. BUT – that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do! This August, there are three ways you can keep building the public and political will to end poverty. We’d love you to do all three.
This month, we’re really excited to be launching an exciting new campaign that we want you to take ownership of over the next few months. We’re calling it “Leave no-one behind: Health For All”. 2015 is a huge year for international development (as we keep saying!) – with this campaign, we want you to take action to help achieve a world where everyone, no matter where they live or how poor they are, can access the quality basic healthcare that is their human right, and which will allow them to live a life of prosperity.
This month we’ve got lots of actions for you to take! As the dust settles from the election, the new Government’s key decision-makers on global poverty issues have been announced and next month, we’ll be asking you to join a brand new campaign with us. But for this month, we’ve got lots of different actions we want you to take:
The General Election campaign was a long one; six months of trying to engage candidates on our work and establishing relationships with them before the new Parliament formation. A massive thank you and congratulations to all of you who took action throughout the campaign and spread the word about the importance of UK leadership on International Development!
Development campaigners in the UK last month received possibly the most exciting news for the past 45 years: spending 0.7% of UK national income on overseas aid has now become law after Parliament passed the ‘International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act’!
We’re now just two months away from a life-changing election, one which will affect all of us for years to come. This month, we’re focussing on hustings! Hustings are a chance for you – constituents, voters - to ask all the local candidates standing to be your MP questions in a public setting, to help you make up your minds who you agree with and who to vote for on election day.