Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is being urged to maintain the UK’s contribution to the global fight against HIV, TB and malaria, with expected cuts potentially costing hundreds of thousands of lives.
Anti-poverty charity, the ONE Campaign, put out the plea ahead of a summit to raise £13.5 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – the world’s largest funder of treatments for these diseases.
The charity cited figures suggesting the British public overwhelmingly supports the government investing in the fight against the biggest infectious disease killers.
Polling by More in Common commissioned by the ONE Campaign found two-thirds of Brits, when told about the work of the Global Fund, said the UK should increase or maintain its support for the fund.
The Global Fund pays for a quarter of all international HIV treatment and prevention programmes, more than half of malaria programmes and three-quarters of TB programmes. It is estimated to have saved 70 million lives in the past 20 years.
It is mostly funded by contributions from more than 80 governments, as well as by private industry and philanthropy. Currently, the UK is its third-largest donor, having pledged £1bn in 2022.
But, amid swingeing cuts to the overall spend on overseas aid, the UK is widely expected to reduce its contribution to the fund – despite co-hosting the fundraising event taking place in November on the fringes of the G20 summit.
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has said that the UK has not yet decided what its pledge to the Global Fund will be.
A £100 million cut from the UK’s contribution would mean 170,000 fewer lives saved over the next three years, based on the Global Fund’s own estimates of how many deaths its can prevent, the ONE Campaign said. A bigger cut than this is reportedly being discussed by government officials, though the FCDO does not recognise this.
When asked to consider a list of the country’s achievements in the 21st century, respondents to the More in Common poll ranked the UK’s role in fighting HIV, TB and malaria third, after the rollout of the Covid vaccine and the 2012 Olympic Games. Other achievements listed included the legalisation of same-sex marriage and the Lionesses’ 2022 Euros win.
Executive director of the ONE Campaign, Adrian Lovett, said: “People see the UK’s role in tackling these terrible diseases as one of our most significant achievements of the 21st century. The message is clear: British people want their government to save lives, and protect us from the spread of diseases that do not stop at national borders.
“Working together in partnership, the world has seen dramatic progress which has made us all safer and more secure,” he added, pointing out that Germany had recently announced an £870m contribution to the Global Fund, which had exceeded expectations.
“With Germany stepping up, all eyes are now on Britain. The UK has an opportunity to make a bold statement of its commitment to ending these deadly diseases – or risk hundreds of thousands of lives”.
This article was produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
