Bill Gates and Desmond Tutu unite to launch campaign to combat hunger

Published on 23/01/2013 00:43

MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu have thrown their weight behind a new ­campaign aiming to combat malnutrition and hunger in the developing world.

One-hundred development and faith British charities have united behind the Enough Food For Everyone IF coalition, urging Prime Minister David Cameron to use the UK’s G8 presidency in 2013 to tackle the causes of hunger in the developing world.

The campaign, being billed as the largest coalition of its kind in the UK since Make Poverty History in 2005, warns that the “scandal” of children growing up hungry will trap almost a billion young people in poverty by 2025 and cost the developed world £78 billion over the next 15 years.

Mr Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town and a long-serving human rights campaigner, said: “Hunger is not an incurable disease or an unavoidable tragedy. We can make sure no child goes to bed hungry.”

Billionaire Mr Gates is also well-known for his philanthropic work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, most notably in combating malaria.

The IF campaign was due to be launched last night at Somerset House in London, at an event which was expected to feature celebrities including actors Bill Nighy, Keeley Hawes and Bonnie Wright.

The coalition has launched a report which warns that the last decade has seen a momentous change in helping people rise out of poverty, with 14,000 fewer children dying each day than in 1990. However, a “yawning gap” between rich and poor is threatening to undo these achievements.