More kids in school, fewer people dying from HIV, consistent economic growth in Africa - Happy New Year from Oxfam!

Four million more children are in school than last year, and 48 million more than eight years ago, when Oxfam launched its education campaign.

More than a million people are receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS as a result of grants worth nearly $9bn dispensed by the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria over the last 7 years. *

Over 200,000 children's lives may have been saved by the provision of 30 million mosquito bed nets by the same organisation.

Since 1999, poor countries receiving debt cancellation have more than doubled the amount they are spending on fighting poverty.

These are just some of the examples from a list of Reasons To Feel Good, compiled by the international agency Oxfam to mark the beginning of a new year.

They are evidence that the aid and debt relief, fought so hard for by Make Poverty History campaigners in 2005, is making a big difference.

Oxfam Policy Advisor, Max Lawson, said: "There is so much ill-informed opinion and unjustified scepticism about aid. Of course there is a long way to go but these figures show what a difference we can make when we work together.

"I was in Malawi recently and saw how over 130,000 people with HIV/AIDS are now receiving treatment, up from virtually none when I lived there just five years ago. I met people who would be dead now if it were not for the work of organisations like Oxfam, and the campaigning efforts of millions of people around the world."

Oxfam's analysis shows how debt cancellation agreed at the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005 is paying for new teachers and health workers in Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and many other countries.

Similarly, the scale of the distribution of life-saving medicines by the Global Fund has in part been made possible by a relaxation of international patent rules following tireless campaigning by non-governmental organisations and pressure groups.

Oxfam's Director, Barbara Stocking said: "All too often we spend our time dwelling on what we have failed to achieve, and the huge mountain that needs to be climbed, but it is important to stop sometimes and notice that progress is possible, and is happening.

"Oxfam would like to say thank you to all the people who supported our work in 2007, whether through campaigning, volunteering, or giving money, but most of all through believing that change is possible."