The planet has never been closer to defeating AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The Global Fund -- the Geneva-based financing organization leading the fight against these three deadly diseases –- is poised to help achieve this extraordinary goal. But it needs money from the governments who fund it to make it happen.
Starting in late September, leaders of the world's governments will meet at the United Nations, the same leaders who later this year will decide how much money to allocate to the Global Fund. The Global Fund estimates that it will need $15 billion in funding for the next three years to successfully make "the big push" to defeat AIDS, malaria and TB. And The Big Push is the name of the Global Fund's campaign to make sure this issue is on the radar of these world leaders, to assist them in opening their pursestrings.
The Huffington Post has been a media partner of the Global Fund's in this initiative for more than a year, and has on its pages featured the voices of Bill Gates, Charlize Theron, Ban Ki-moon and Desmond Tutu, among many others, to help lead the fight.
As the Global Fund notes, for every USD $1 billion raised for the effort, 450,000 adults will be supported on HIV treatment, 34 million insecticide-treated nets will be distributed, and 63,000 people will receive TB treatment.
What can you do? Sign up for the Global Fund Thunderclap, a platform that will, on September 24, simultaneously blast one message on the Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr accounts of all those who sign up for it.
This is the message that will be broadcast on all three platforms:
We can #BetheGeneration to defeat #AIDS #TB & #malaria. Are you in? http://huff.to/1fzvEJH
You can also:
* Get the message out NOW to your friends and social networks, so that they, too, join the campaign. Send them the link to this page.
* On September 24, watch as everyone’s messages are blasted out simultaneously in the Thunderclap, and help make the effort viral. Post! Retweet! Share! Reblog! Like!
* Sign the ONE-campaign petition below, pressuring world leaders to scale up their commitments to the Global Fund.
* Watch and share the video above, featuring Charlize Theron, Bono, Bill Gates and others, demonstrating the impact of the Global Fund's efforts.
* Add your voice to the mix by sharing your opinion on The Huffington Post. Send us your 500-850-word blog post (along with your headshot and brief bio) to impactblogs@huffingtonpost.com.
Yours can truly be the generation to defeat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.