Ordinary People Just Helped Save Millions of Lives : Shared by Kul Gautam

Many thanks, dear Sam, for sharing this inspiring article.

So proud of our RESULTS.org colleagues and the transformational advocacy skills that you have instilled in them.

I recall fondly how RESULTS advocacy helped mobilize similar US support for the highly successful "child survival revolution" interventions spearheaded by UNICEF in the 1980s and 90s.

Let's hope that these life-saving appropriations for global health, approved by Congress and signed by the President, will actually be disbursed, and not withheld by OMB under any pretext.

Thank you.

Kul

Ordinary People Just Helped Save Millions of Lives

Sam Daley-Harris 

The Renovator February 26, 2026 

Click here for the article 

Summary

 When U.S. lawmakers signed appropriations legislation on February 3, 2026, funding for global health programs came in at $9.4 billion — far above the Trump administration's request of $3.8 billion, and close to the prior year's $10 billion allocation. 

Maternal and Child Health programs, which the administration sought to slash from $915 million to $85 million, were fully restored. 

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria received $1.25 billion, well above the requested $800 million. 

Behind these outcomes was years of grassroots advocacy by citizen lobbyists trained by RESULTS, an anti-poverty advocacy organization founded in 1980. Volunteers built personal relationships with members of Congress and secured signatures from 160 House members on a letter supporting the Global Fund and PEPFAR, and 128 members on a separate letter supporting maternal and child health and nutrition programs. The article argues that this "transformational advocacy" — distinct from petitions or protests — was decisive in preventing cuts that would have had life-and-death consequences for millions. 

Quote:

 "The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria partnership has saved 70 million lives since 2002." "U.S. Maternal and Child Health programs have helped drive a 66 percent drop in global child deaths since the early 1980s, saving some 10 million young lives a year."