The lesson of Red Nose Day

How do you get the media interested in the health needs of the world's poor?

The tsunami that recently devastated South East Asia was a one time natural event that mobilised individuals and eventually governments to donate on an unprecedented scale. But more children have been killed by infectious diseases since 26 December than by the tsunami, an audience in London heard last week. Their deaths have been private events, out of our sight and therefore out of mind.

But money spent on the right things can make a profound difference: for example, in its first five years of operation the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization has saved more than 670 000 lives, by improving …