UN mobilizes $2.5b to curb global poverty

Additional commitments to boost Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) achievement have been announced, bringing the total to $2.5 billion in new commitments ahead of the 2015 target date for the Goals.

United Kingdom (UK) International Development Secretary, Justine Greening announced new UK Government support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria worth $1.6 billion (£1 billion) over the three-year period of 2014-2016.

A statement singned by Charlotte Scaddan of the United Nations Department of Public Information and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said this was achieved in New York when the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has galvanized Heads of State, business leaders and philanthropists into joint action against extreme poverty, hunger and disease.

The UK’s support would deliver life-saving antiretroviral therapy for 750,000 people living with HIV, 32 million more insecticide-treated nets to prevent the transmission of malaria, and TB treatment for over a million more people.

The Government of Norway announced that it would contribute $75 million over three years to finance life-saving commodities and their related delivery costs as part of a newly formed: “Reproductive, Newborn, and Maternal Health Trust Fund.”

Energia, the international network on gender and sustainable energy, committed over $10 million (8 million Euros) to support and strengthen work on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the energy sector, particularly for universal energy access.

The commitment – supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Foreign Ministry of Finland and the Asia Development Bank – is part of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

Source: GNA