Alan Cumming among artists who support Global Fund health efforts

A diverse group of actors and artists has come out in support of a global charity that fights some of the world’s deadliest diseases.

In an open letter published online, the group called on government officials and the public to do more for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which pays for treatment in poor countries. The agency provides two-thirds of the global financing for efforts against tuberculosis and malaria, and helps cover treatment for more than half of the world’s AIDS patients.

Because of the group’s work, about 5.2 million people around the world who have AIDS are now getting antiretroviral drugs, which help stem the progression of the disease. To support the agency’s cause, 15 actors, musicians, artists and writers signed a letter urging more financing for the group. Among those who put their names on the letter were Jeremy Irons, Annie Lennox, Alan Cumming, Minnie Driver, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Freeman.

“By 2015, together we can almost eliminate mother-to-child transmission of H.I.V. as a public health problem, and dramatically cut the number of deaths worldwide due to tuberculosis and malaria,” the artists wrote. “However, if we do not raise widespread support the momentum we have already built will be lost and we will miss this historic opportunity.

“We who sign this letter,” they added, “join the chorus of voices across the planet asking for support in the fight to turn the tide against these diseases by 2015.”

The agency said the letter came at a particularly crucial time because a number of milestones in global health are “within reach, such as no deaths from malaria, control of tuberculosis and a massive reduction in the number of AIDS deaths worldwide.”

Source: New York Times