Christian campaigners are putting pressure on the US presidential candidates to protect overseas aid.

With the elections less than two months away, Micah Challenge is asking President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to remember the world's poor.

It wants assurances that the next US president will protect poverty-focused development aid.

Jason Alfonse Fileta, Director of Micah Challenge USA, said: "Millions of people are alive today because President Bush followed his convictions and launched the Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).

"Our next president must share this commitment to helping people in extreme poverty - lives are depending on it. At a time where spending must be cut, this is a portion of the budget we are not wiling to part with.

"As Christian campaigners, the Bible is not only our inspiration but our handbook as well. We don’t read “rules for radicals” - we read Exodus and Isaiah. We feel that with 58 days to go before the election, Isaiah 58 is a great place to start."

Isaiah 58 calls God's people to set the oppressed free and share their food with the hungry.

Evangelicals across the US are pledging to do their own bit to end poverty by signing a declaration urging Obama and Romney to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with their God - taken from Micah 6:8.