UK government reviews aid programmes – what do we think?

On Tuesday Andrew Mitchell MP, Secretary of State for International Development announced the results of his Department’s multilateral and bilateral aid reviews. An overview of the results is available here. The reviews were established shortly after the Coalition Government was formed to look at all areas of the Department’s work and make recommendations for changes to make it more effective. The results are the most comprehensive overview we have yet seen of the Government’s approach to international development and therefore the announcement is an important milestone.

Overall RESULTS strongly welcomes the reviews. It is crucial that UK support for developing countries is focused on truly achieving results for poor people and supporting their own efforts to escape poverty. The top-line results that the Department has committed to delivering through both multilateral and bilateral channels over the next four years to 2015 are:

• Secure schooling for 11 million children
• Help vaccinate more children against preventable diseases than there are people in the whole of England
• Provide access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation to more people than there are in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Save the lives of 50,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth
• Stop 250,000 newborn babies dying needlessly
• Support 13 countries to hold freer and fairer elections
• Help 10 million more women get access to modern family planning
• Provide 50 million people with the means to help work their way out of poverty [by providing them with access to financial services]
• Stop 10 million more children going hungry
• Help halve malaria deaths in 10 of the worst affected countries
• Help millions of poor people protect their livelihoods from the impact of climate change.

Below we discuss the two reviews in more detail, and while we are broadly supportive of their contents we raise a few questions on specific decisions, as well as pointing out the need for further information on funding decisions and the specifics of country-level programmes.

March Conference Call announced: “World TB Day: still neglected, still killing”

RESULTS is glad to announce that we will be having our next conference called entitled: “Wold TB Day: still neglected, still killing” on the 1st of March 2011. In light of the 29th anniversary of World TB Day taking place on the 24th of March 2011, we are asking our activists to write to their MPs to ask them to take action to ensure that the UK government puts the political priority necessary into the fight against TB and HIV. Click here to download the action materials.

A New Vaccine – Saving Children’s Lives

We are thrilled to be able to report that the first children in the world have begun to receive their vaccinations against the world’s biggest child killer — pneumonia. These children are in Kenya, and they are the first wave of vaccinations that are currently heading out to 40 developing countries.

This is tremendous news, and the difference this will make in the world really can’t be overstated. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has prepared an introductory video.

Pneumococcal disease currently takes the lives of over a million of people every year – including more than half a million children before their fifth birthday. Pneumonia is the most common form of serious pneumococcal disease and accounts for 18% of child deaths in developing countries, making it one of the two leading causes of death among young children.

European Parliament votes to support global fight against TB

Last week, the EU Parliament overwhelmingly voted to include tuberculosis (TB) in the Europe 2020 Strategy, the EU’s strategy for growth for the coming decade. The resolution was supported by 578 MEPs with only 9 voting against and 52 abstentions. The resolution highlights the role European research can play in developing countries, where TB’s toll is the highest.

February conference call announced: Vaccination, a public health ‘best buy’

On Tuesday the 1st of February at 8pm we will be having our next conference call which is titled ‘Vaccination: A public health ‘best buy’. For our action this month we are asking RESULTS activists to write to your MEPs asking them to support increased funding for the GAVI Alliance, a revolutionary organisation working to increase the numbers of children vaccinated against preventable diseases worldwide. Our special guest on the call will be Eloise Todd, Brussels Director, The One Campaign. Click here to download the action materials.

DFID accused of inadequately tackling TB

In an editorial published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, experts based at Bangladesh’s Dhaka Community Hospital accuse the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) of ‘covering up’ the G8 countries’ failure to cut TB deaths, in particular in South Asia. The article faults DFID for focusing on preventing the spread of TB to the West instead of addressing the underlying causes of TB, including poor living conditions, sanitation and nutrition.

World Bank Announces $49.3 Billion Funding Package for 2011-2013

This week international negotiations concluded and agreed to the continued work and funding of the International Development Association (IDA, the part of the World Bank that provides assistance to the poorest countries) for the next three years. A key outcome of these negotiations has been the renewed UK Governments’ commitment to fight poverty by investing in the World Bank.

Oxford RESULTS group discusses MDGs on BBC Radio Oxfordshire

Today two members of the Oxford RESULTS group joined Radio Oxford presenter Joel Hammer to discuss the upcoming Millennium Development Goal review summit and the work of the Oxford group.

Activist Dan Price spoke about how working with RESULTS empowers people and encouraged listeners: “Don’t feel disillusioned, you can make a difference.” He also movingly explained that his motivation for spending his free time working on this issue are the individuals in the developing world – the children who have to choose between earning a living and going to school or the person turned away from healthcare because they can’t afford it.

Bang for your buck: investing in malaria prevention pays off

A new report titled ‘Saving Lives with Malaria Control: Counting Down to the Millennium Development Goals’ estimates that investment in malaria prevention has saved the lives of over 700,000 children in 34 African countries since 2001. Malaria is the leading cause of death among children in Africa and malaria control is critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) reducing child mortality.

September Conference Call recording on MDG Summit available online

On Tuesday night we held our September conference call. You can now listen to a recording of the call on our website.

On this call, we had three speakers – TB activist Winstone Zulu from Zambia who talked about his personal story of TB and HIV/AIDS and the achievement of MDG 6 on fighting HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases; Louise Holly, RESULTS Deputy Director, who discussed the MDG review summit coming up in New York this month; and Julia Modern our Campaigns Officer who spoke about progress towards MDG 2 on Universal Primary Education in Kenya.