A life saved every three minutes? The effectiveness of UK aid
Unlike other areas of government, the Department for International Development (DFID) has cash to spend. It is one of the only departments to have its budget not only protected, but significantly increased.
This week the Secretary of State said that the UK would contribute £1 billion to the Global Fund over the next three years. This pledge would, so DFID claimed, save one life every three minutes.
The Global Fund's focus is on the prevention and treatment of three common diseases - malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids. Over the next three years, it intends to help 33,750,000 people by providing the following:
- "life saving anti-retroviral therapy" for 750,000 people living with HIV;
- 32 million insecticide-treated nets;
- TB treatment for one million people.
According to DFID, the UK government's contribution will save 590,400 lives during this period. As three years equates to approximately 1.5 million minutes, this means that one life will be saved every three minutes. DFID explained that the number of lives saved has been calculated on the basis of information provided by its partner organisations, who work on the ground to provide aid. We're still looking for more detail on how this estimate was generated.
To prevent a death is the ultimate aim, but the Global Fund's interventions are also centred on reducing the rate of infection and prolonging the lives of those who live with one of these diseases. In terms of reach, the vast majority of aid is being directed towards those at risk of contracting malaria. But, as the Global Fund itself notes, insecticide-treated nets only reduce the death rate by 20%.
The UK's contribution is equivalent to 10% of the Global Fund's total budget for this three year project. Assuming that the UK's success rate in is typical (that £1 billion prevents 590,400 deaths), this would assume that 5.9 million lives would be saved - almost a fifth of the number of people receiving help.
Flickr image courtesy of e-MagineArt.com