After the initial buzz surrounding the opening day of the UN MDG summit in New York yesterday, today we have some positive progress to report.

In an announcement that arrived in the small hours of this morning, an additional $3bn US dollars has been pledged towards the fight against malaria.

A disease that still plagues hundreds of millions across the Americas, Asia, and Africa, malaria is a major barrier to tackling poverty. Even when malaria isn't fatal, the economic impact includes the strain that treating the disease puts on health care systems, the working days lost due to sickness, and days lost that sick children could have otherwise spent at school.

The cash boost is certainly a welcome one and will mean more mosquito nets and better treatment where it's needed.

This is genuine progress. And Gordon Brown and Bill Gates, who made the announcement together in New York last night, certainly deserve our applause.

But the announcement comes alongside another cash injection. One which eclipses the $3 billion committed by Brown and Gates.

We're talking of course about the $700 billion bailout package for the US economy, which has been touted by President Bush for the last few days.

Though action is clearly needed to tackle the global credit crunch, it only serves to highlight how easily governments can find money when they need to. When there's a need to act, governments find a way.

Rich countries must not use the economic slump as an excuse for missing long-term commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals. And if the US government alone can conjure up such huge amounts of money over-night, it's clear that together, rich country governments could find the additional $150bn per year that's needed by 2010 to meet the MDGs.

As the meetings continue in New York, we're working behind-the-scenes keeping the pressure on. And you can get an idea how we're doing it by watching the video below or reading our blog from New York.