The study estimates over 1.2 million lives were lost to malaria in 2010, almost twice the estimates used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its most recent malaria report. Whilst both approaches maintain that the majority of lives lost to malaria are in Africa – which bears 91% of all deaths – and amongst young children. The difference in the IHME’s data is the assumption that higher numbers of older children and adults in heavy-burden malaria areas are dying from the disease.
Whilst the total numbers may be different, “however you look at it, far too many people are dying from malaria,” Professor David Schellenberg, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told the BBC.
But there is good news, as Annemarie Meyer, Programme and Policy Manager at Malaria No More UK explains: “the main trends reported by both the IHME and WHO reports highlight that international efforts to fight malaria are working with a consistent and significant reduction in malaria deaths since 2004. This progress is thanks to investments in efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria, we need to continue to press for more resources to sustain these gains and save more lives.”
Malaria No More UK spoke to a number of experts ahead of the publication of the study. Many of our own policy advisors have also been involved in reviewing and responding to the study data. It is important to note that global malaria data relies on estimates, as Lancet editor Richard Horton pointed out to the BBC this morning, “Right now we don’t actually have any reliable primary numbers for malaria deaths in some of the most malarious regions of the world, so what numbers we have come from estimates.”
Better disease diagnosis and surveillance is needed, ultimately, to remove the reliance on data modeling like these. As Professor David Schellenberg also told the BBC “The introduction of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria, recommended by the WHO in 2010 and increasingly available in endemic countries, affords an unprecedented opportunity to take the guesswork out of malaria diagnosis and to improve the reliability of information.”
Annemarie Meyer adds, “the WHO already recommends that essential malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment should be made available to both adults and children: we all agree that efforts need be increased to reach everyone at risk.”
It is critically important to sustaining and increasing efforts to combat this deadly disease. The IHME study’s authors emphasised the importance of sustaining and increasing efforts to combat malaria, and recognised the contribution of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in achieving success so far. With international financing for malaria, and particularly funding for the Global Fund facing significant shortfalls in meeting the need, it is more important than ever to increase our efforts to sustain international support.
Malaria No More UK, along with the Global Poverty Project and a host of other organisations focussed on tackling HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria have been calling for increased funding for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB
and Malaria. We have been asking people to lend their voice to this campaign: to sign a petition and write to their MP to help persuade the British government to announce an increase in financial support for the Fund.
Join our campaign with the Global Poverty Project to help ‘Fund The Fund’ by adding your name to the petition on the right or sending a letter to your MP
Today, the world marks exactly ten years since countries, civil society and the private sector all came together to launch The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – an innovative way of delivering aid that differed from other models.
Established in response to the terror and havoc caused by these once largely unchecked diseases, the unprecedented success of the Global Fund has transformed global health. Now, this unique public-private partnership stands as a clear demonstration of the scale of what is truly possible when we all work together.
As Kofi Annan – who as Secretary-General of the UN helped instigate the birth of the Global Fund – reflects:
'Many people said that the plan was unrealistic and the call for a war chest was a dream, but great achievements always start with a dream, and the progress we have made in the fight against the three diseases is proof that dreams can be realised.'
And the ‘proof’ is staggering. Since its inception in 2002, grants from the Global Fund have saved nearly 8 million lives. That’s an estimated 100,000 lives saved each month! Further, in the fight against AIDS alone, 6.6 million people in low and middle-income countries are on AIDS treatment, up from 200,000 a decade ago. Even more amazingly, access to AIDS treatment has increased over 3000% since the beginning of the Global Fund.
True, the Global Fund has not been without its challenges, as the occasional allegations of corruption illustrate. But there can be no denying that the Global Fund has – according to an independent high-level review – “made ordinary and expected what was unthinkable in dozens of nations ten years ago.”
Yet, as it celebrates its 10th birthday, the Global Fund’s live-saving work is at risk of grinding to a halt. As we reported back in November, the GF Board was recently forced to cancel its next round of grant-making and to announce that it would not be making any new grants for the next two years. This decision was made following the default by several donor countries on their payments to the Fund.
There can be no doubt that the Fund’s decision will adversely affect the progress that has been made over the last ten years. By cancelling its next round of grants, the Fund will effectively be forced to turn away new patients. This is a tragedy that must be prevented.
Key donors like the US, UK and Australia - crucial to the Fund’s success – should maintain, if not increase, their financial support now more than ever. Perhaps more importantly, they should also do everything they can to encourage new donors and ensure other existing donor countries keep their commitments.
Indeed, it would be a shame for all of humanity if, after coming so far, we let the progress made over the last decade be reversed. As Hilary Clinton said back in November: “To sit on the sidelines now would be devastating. It would cost lives, and we would miss out on this unprecedented opportunity. When so many people are suffering, and we have the means to help them, we have an obligation to do what we can.”
Over the past three months Malaria No More UK and the Global Poverty Project have been out and about around the country. We have been working together to raise awareness and inspire action on fighting malaria as part of our joint vision for a world without extreme poverty within a generation.
And those we have spoken to have been inspired!
In the past few months 233 letters have been sent to MPs and more than 700 people have signed our petition calling on the Government to increase its support for the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. The Fund accounts for almost 70% of all international aid funding for malaria and is vital to helping prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.
Our supporters have passed on letters they have had back from their MPs and also a response from the DFID Minister Stephen O’Brien who has said the Government is committed to increasing its funding to the Global Fund. But he did not giving a firm timetable for doing so. The British government is working with other governments to try achieve an overall increase in funding for the Fund – something we are keen to support.
You still have time to book your own presentation – to learn more about global poverty and about simple, practical actions to end it, including ways students can use their voice to influence national and global policy change and help end extreme poverty.
Our Executive Director Sarah Kline says, “We are thrilled that so many people have written to their MPs – and urge them to keep going! It is important to remind the British Government there is support for increasing funding for malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB through the Global Fund. Our letters also call on MPs to continue to support an overall increase in UK aid. This is vital if we are to help make malaria no more.”
Elisha London, UK Country Director of the Global Poverty Project, says, “Our presenters and supporters have made a real difference in the past few months to helping raise awareness about malaria. They have spread the good news that 1.1 million children’s lives have been saved from malaria in the past decade alone. By writing to your MP and signing the petition you are helping British politicians keep their promises to help end extreme poverty. Thank you.”
December 3rd is the International Day of People with Disabilities. Lucy Daniel, Policy Officer from CBM Australia, talks about how this day can make a difference in your life and in the lives of others.
One day can make a big difference. A single event or decision can change the direction of your life from that time on.
One of my big “days that made a difference” came when I decided to stop being a family lawyer and work with CBM Australia, advocating for the rights of people with disabilities in developing countries. This led to whole lot more change, as I began hearing many more stories of people who have experienced much bigger changes in their lives than my right-hand career path turn.
One such person is Edwin Kuki.
Edwin Kuki was born in the Solomon Islands in 1942. A big day that made a difference for him was in 1952, when he contracted polio. This left him unable to walk—meaning that for nearly sixty years, Edwin has faced all sorts of challenges, and innovated ways to overcome these.
Hearing this made a big difference for me. Firstly, it showed me how important it is to fight polio – the Global Poverty Project’s campaign to eradicate the disease is absolutely essential to preventing disability.
It also showed me how people with disabilities are often excluded from society, such as when other people discriminate against them because of incorrect assumptions about what they can or can’t achieve. Or when other people simply don’t think about the effect that things they are doing have on people with disabilities—like when the village planned to put a water pipe far away so that Edwin would not be able to access it.
Hearing about this exclusion that Edwin has experienced is all the more powerful when he also describes how the village changed their plans and brought the water pipe close to his house so that he could access it, and how the children help him to the health care centre whenever he asks. This showed me that people with disabilities should not and do not have to be excluded from society– so long as we all think about how the things that we’re doing effect people with disabilities, and make an effort to include them.
This is what International Day of People with Disabilities on 3 December is all about: raising awareness of the experiences of people with disabilities—both good and bad—and celebrating all that they achieve and contribute to society.
One day can make a big difference. And that’s what I’m challenging you to do this International Day of People with Disabilities: Watch Edwin’s story. Find out more about the experiences of people with disabilities in developing countries, and the cycle of poverty and disability. Add your voice to the growing number of people signing the pledge to stand up with people with disabilities for their rights to end this cycle.
Make International Day of People with Disabilities make a difference in your life and in the lives of others.
If you would like to find out more about disability, poverty and development issues, you can visit and sign the pledge at www.endthecycle.org.au or follow @endthecycleaus on Twitter.
Global Poverty Project is an endorsing partner of the End the Cycle campaign.
Today is World AIDS Day, a day for us to celebrate the incredible accomplishments that have been made in the combat against HIV/AIDS, and also a day for us to remind ourselves how important it is to continue these efforts.
UNAIDS has just reported that AIDS-related deaths fell 21% from their 2005 peak, and globally the number of new HIV infections in 2010 was down 21% from their 1997 level.
In sub-Saharan African the progress has been particularly noteworthy. This is an amazing achievement that resulted from the spread of preventive measures accompanied with dedication to long-term treatment.
‘The big point for us is the number of new infections – that’s where you win against the epidemic.’
A main reason cited for falls in both AIDS-related death and new HIV infections is the increase in access to treatment. In sub-Saharan Africa, between 2009 and 2010 there has been a 20% rise in people undergoing treatment.
In particular, The UNAIDS report suggests that Botswana, Namibia and Rwanda have achieved universal access to treatment, which is defined as coverage of more than 80%. Swaziland and Zambia have also achieved coverage levels of between 70 and 80%. In a region that is most affected by the epidemic, this represents a significant milestone in the combat against HIV/AIDS.
An expansion in accessibility in treatment also lowers the likelihood of new infections, propelling an important virtuous cycle. The battle therefore goes beyond the need to development suitable treatments, to improving the health care systems as a whole to ensure more people can not only access the treatment, but also benefit from long-term health monitoring and recovery supports.
With international efforts dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tido von Schoen-Angerer, from Medecins Sans Frontieres, believes that
‘Never, in more than a decade of treating people living with HIV/AIDS, have we been at such a promising moment to really turn this epidemic around.’
However, in the midst of this promising moment and hopeful progress, the news of the Global Fund canceling its Round 11 of grant-making is a grim reminder that commitments from both the public and private sectors are lacking.
This could severely jeopardize the incredible progress that has already been made. Almost one quarter of the money used to fight HIV/AIDS comes through the Global Fund, meaning that a severe funding gap not only threatens new programs that could reach wider communities, but also the effectiveness of existing treatments. This is because if treatments with antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, are stopped, there is a high chance of viral rebound and immune decompensation, which effectively means the failure of the immune system. Many of the efforts we have made would be in vain.
Never before has the progress been more promising in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and never before have we needed more support to sustain this incredible progress. We cannot afford to lose the grounds that have been gained. As the executive director of the Global Fund Michel Kazatchkine says,
‘Now is not the time to abandon millions of people who are still in need.’
This is why we are asking you to write to your MP, to show the government we support their stance on international aid and ask them to set an example to other governments by doubling their funding to the Global Fund.
With international efforts dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tido von Schoen-Angerer, from Medecins Sans Frontieres, 
