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Be part of the international movement and light Canada up in red in support of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day!
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For over 9,000 years we have been fighting against tuberculosis (TB). With great efforts, we’ve made progress - TB is now preventable and curable. However, action is needed to expand efforts to prevent and cure it as it remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease with more than 4,000 people dying of TB every day. It’s time we end this epidemic – once and for all.
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"The need is urgent. We cannot afford to wait. Together, we can and must deliver on the promise of better health and nutrition for all women, children, and adolescents, everywhere" - Austin Demby Chair, Minister of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone
A year ago, in a health centre in Kigoma, north-east Tanzania, doctors saved Dorcas’ baby, who was born underweight and faced life-threatening complications. She had planned to deliver at home, but trained health workers in her community recognized the danger, referred her in time, and ensured she reached the facility by ambulance. Without that chain of care, her child would likely have died.
Stories like Dorcas’ illustrate a larger truth: for decades, the world made steady progress in reducing child deaths, and since 2000, under-five mortality has fallen by more than half. The evidence is clear: access to essential health and nutrition services saves lives. And what has made that access possible and sustainable are government investments and health system reforms.
But this progress remains fragile.
As official development assistance declines, health facilities are closing, health workers are losing their jobs, and medical supply chains are being disrupted. Projections suggest that 2025 may be the first year this century in which child deaths increased, with 200,000 additional young lives lost compared to 2024, a sobering reminder of how quickly gains can be reversed.
The ask: As progress on women’s and children’s survival comes under increasing pressure and inequalities widen, we urge Canada to continue its longstanding support for the Global Financing Facility with an increased pledge for 2026-2030 (exact figure forthcoming).
why Canada must step up now
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G7 countries, which together account for around three-quarters of all official development assistance, are set to slash their aid spending by 28% for 2026 compared to 2024 levels.
These cuts will hit the poorest countries and the most essential services hardest. At this rate, up to 16 million additional children could die by 2045.
Since the OECD’s numbers were released, Canada also announced $2.7 billion cut over 4 years to the International Assistance Envelope despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise not to do so.
Cuts by the U.S. alone risk leaving up millions of children without essential health and nutrition services and cause over 4.5 million deaths of children under 5 years old by 2030. In other words, a child under 5 could die every 40 seconds by 2030.
By 2030, the projected child mortality rate will remain at 36 per 1,000 live births, missing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal target of 25 child deaths per 1,000 live births.
With international assistance declining, many governments face limited fiscal space and rising debt burdens. Families are often forced to pay out-of-pocket for essential care, putting lifesaving services out of reach for the most marginalized children. This is why new approaches to financing child survival matter now more than ever.
enter the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents
With leadership from Canada in support of the G8 Muskoka Initiative, the Global Financing Facility (GFF) was launched in 2015 to accelerate efforts to end preventable maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent deaths by 2030. The GFF helps countries finance their own health priorities, particularly around child and maternal survival, by combining domestic resources with investments from other countries, the World Bank, and the private sector.
And it’s working.
All 36 GFF partner countries have reduced their levels of maternal and child mortality and adolescent births, expanded access to modern family planning, and three-quarters have reduced their rates of childhood stunting (low height-for-age caused by malnutrition).
how the GFF works
Country-led and efficient: The GFF connects funding from donors with national health plans, focusing resources on the most effective services for women and children.
Small grants, big leverage: Small GFF grants attract much larger World Bank financing, multiplying resources for health.
Cost-effective investment: For under $100 per person per year, strong primary health care can prevent up to 90% of child deaths. GFF countries are reducing mortality faster than the global average.
Stronger economies and trade partners: The GFF helps children stay healthy and stay in school. Healthier, better-educated populations are more productive over their lifetimes, expanding future workforces, consumer markets, and trade partners.
Transition from assistance to mutually beneficial partnerships: As countries grow and reduce mortality, many will transition out of GFF financing and re-engage as economic and knowledge partners.
Greater global stability: By supporting reliable, affordable health systems and job creation, the GFF help countries manage demographic and economic transitions, which reduce inequality, social unrest, and forced migration.
The GFF doesn’t replace international assistance – it multiplies it, helping countries build the health systems children need to survive and thrive. In Tanzania, support from the GFF and other partners has helped translate national plans into real services on the ground, ensuring that mothers like Dorcas and their children can access quality primary health care, even in the most remote communities.
Today, as global aid budgets are slashed and child survival gains are at risk of reversal, Canada has a critical opportunity to lead. Canada has a proud history of championing child survival worldwide. A renewed pledge to the Global Financing Facility would help partner countries provide:
Modern contraceptives for 254 million women and adolescent girls
Early antenatal care for 126 million pregnant women
Institutional deliveries for 194 million pregnant women
Early initiation of breastfeeding for 146 million newborns
Diphteria, tetanus and pertussis vaccination for 208 million children
Now is Canada’s moment to act. By renewing its support for the GFF, we can safeguard progress and give every child the chance to survive and to thrive.
The ask: As progress on women’s and children’s survival comes under increasing pressure and inequalities widen, we urge Canada to continue its longstanding support for the Global Financing Facility with an increased pledge for 2026-2030 (exact figure forthcoming).
latest campaign news
#WinTheFight
Canada pledged $1.02 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the Eighth Replenishment Summit in Johannesburg. This represents an almost 16% cut from its previous pledge in 2022. Results Canada alongside 20+ organizations released a joint statement expressing our concern as the announcement undermines progress against three of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases and weakens Canada’s credibility as a reliable global partner.
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Photo: Safer Births
One of the most successful initiatives in Tanzania is the Safer Births Bundle of Care. This program, led by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the GFF, ensures health workers have the skills and tools to manage common complications that can lead to maternal or neonatal deaths.
By unlocking World Bank funding to scale up this project, the GFF supported the Tanzanian Ministry of Health in its expansion of this project to over 150 facilities and enabled more than 4,000 health workers to receive training. Now, the plan is to reach all regions.
