Would This Aid Get to African Children?

By, Roland Ogbonnaya, This Day, June 11, 2007

At the final day of the G8 Summit that hold in Kuehlungsborn, Germany, the western leaders agreed on aid programme worth $60 billion to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases that have been decimating the African population, especially children and women.

James Nkemakolam is chairperson of a youth club on HIV/Aids in Abia State, Nigeria. He is a volunteer trainer in carpentry. A form two drop out almost three years ago, he intends to sit for Junior Certificate examinations. Nkemakolam also thinks he is now in a better position to define what good things lie ahead for him. Thanks to a local community based organisation (CBO).

“This group lifted me out of despair. I don’t have parents. I used to see life through shattered spectacles,” said the young boy. “But for three years now, I have seen my life reshaping and becoming more meaningful. Now I know I can do something with myself, do something for my relations and my friends.”

Some of Nkemakolam’s friends gather at the centre everyday. There they are shaped and sharpened into carpenters, tailors and tinsmiths. They also accompany Nkemakolam on an arduous errand of criss-crossing 12 villages with loads of life-changing information.

Nkemakolam would not have conquered poverty if not for the support the local CBO provided. There are many Nkemakolams in Nigeria and other countries in sub Saharan Africa who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other related diseases.

In a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, widespread HIV infection has already translated into full-blown AIDS epidemics. There have been studies, which are important steps toward understanding the complex threats to society that HIV/AIDS poses.

Some key conclusions of the studies are that HIV and AIDS and poverty are mutually reinforcing, has severe impact on agriculture and food security, is very much a gender issue, while there is the need to invest in children. The key message concerning prevention is that the empowerment of women in all spheres of economic and social life is of paramount importance for sustained progress in the fight against the spread of the epidemic.

The leaders of Group of Eight (G8) Summit holding in Germany share the travails of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. Members of the group at the weekend agreed on a program worth more than $60-billion (U.S.) to combat the spread of HIV/AIDs in Africa. Germany's Development Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul made the announcement on state ZDF television before G8 leaders sat down with African and international officials to discuss African issues on Friday.

Ms. Wieczorek-Zeul said the money was earmarked for fighting malaria and tuberculosis, as well as HIV/AIDS and about half of it would come from the United States, with Germany contributing $5.4-billion between now and 2015. “The situation in Africa is simply so dramatic,” she said in Berlin.

Proponents of debt relief in Africa and other social activists have criticised the world's leading industrial nations for failing to live up to promises made two years ago at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Last Thursday, musician and social activist Bono told a crowd attending a protest concert in nearby Rostock that he had a “very tough meeting” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and was convinced, at one point, he might have to throw in the towel.

Music producer Bob Geldof said the U2 singer — with whom he has turned aid to Africa a global campaign — became depressed during their meeting with Ms. Merkel. Mr. Geldof said the German Chancellor was talking about sending only $940-million to Africa, instead of the $2-billion they believe is needed.

But Mr. Geldof said he was hopeful that Ms. Merkel, who on Thursday announced an agreement among the G8 on climate change, could persuade leaders to act on Africa. The 2005 G8 summit called for increasing the amount of aid to $50-billion a year through 2010, with half of that going to Africa itself.

However, since then, the pledge has fallen short, with the amount pledged set to miss its target by $30-billion, anti-poverty and aid groups said. They singled out Canada and Italy for scorn for what one official said was an attempt to keep a renewed call for African aid off the G8 communiqu้ this year.

Africa was on the agenda of Friday's meetings in the resort of Heiligendamm of G8 heads of state and international officials, while activists said they would be looking for a renewed commitment to the continent.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy said his country, which owes $351.34-million and did not pay in 2006 and 2007, has pledged to pay that amount and would increase aid spending to $540.52-million next year. Japan has also signalled that it would not block any language in the final communiqu้ on targets to increase aid, combat AIDS and provide for more education in Africa. Rather, it said it would also continue to focus on Africa when it takes over the G8 presidency next year.

Interestingly, the final day of the Heiligendamm summit saw an agreement on delivering $60bn of additional aid over the coming years. It is expected that the extra cash will be used to meet the commitment made at Gleneagles to provide universal access to anti-retroviral HIV treatments by 2010.

The outgoing British Prime Minister, Tony Blair said that "immense progress" had been made on support for Africa. There was also a pledge to spend an additional $500m this year on supporting education in Africa, with more support to follow over the longer term. A further agreement saw the leaders pledge action on reducing malaria deaths by half with programmes in 30 African countries.

In a bid to deal with problems such as the crisis in Darfur, there was also agreement in principle to help fund an African Union peacekeeping force. Blair, attending his final G8 leaders meeting, hailed the agreement reached on Africa as a 'partnership' between that continent and the developed world.

Speaking after the release of the final communique on Africa, which made pledges on aid and trade, Blair said 'immense progress' had been made towards securing better trade access for poorer nations. This included 'support for Africa's ability to trade its goods', he said.

'We have...recommitted ourselves to all of the commitments we made a couple of years ago at Gleneagles. But the important thing is that we have now set out how we are going to do them. Because this is a partnership, it is a deal between Africa and the developed world and just as we have recommitted ourselves to substantial increases in support and help, so Africa has recommitted itself to its responsibilities as part of the partnership,” Blair said. He added that both sides were aware 'that we have a long way to go and a lot to do'.

'But the truth is there has been immense progress made and probably one really important indication is that Japan has said that for next year's G8 Africa is going to be right at the centre of the agenda and that has got to be good news,' he said.
As the world leaders rose from the meeting at the weekend they discussed about reducing the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS alongside the core focal points of global responsibility and climate protection issues.

However, there was pessimism as far as the African agenda was concerned. The reason is because the western nations have consistently failed to deliver on their promises to the developing nations. A typical example is the Gleneagles accord of 2005, which was the climax of the ‘make poverty history’ campaign designed to put pressure on the G8 to provide help for Africa by opening up export markets, providing debt relief and increasing aid budgets.

The commitment then was to double global aid by 2010, with half of that $50 billion increase earmarked for sub-Saharan Africa. But, figures just released by Data, an aid-monitoring organisation, showed that G8 assistance to sub-Saharan Africa has increased by only $2.3bn since 2004. To be on track for the 2010 target it should have increased by at least $5.4bn.

G8 national budgets indicate that only small increases in aid are in the pipeline for this year and next. Basically, there are no concrete long-term commitments to ensure that the international targets to even halve poverty by 2015 are met.

The annual G8 summits are extremely high profile and centres for extensive lobbying by advocacy groups because the eight countries making up the G8 represent about 14 per cent of the world population, but they account for nearly two thirds of the world’s economic output measured by gross domestic product.

As the violent riots which ushered in the summit showed to express, G8 members were for very good historical, current and growing reasons seen to be heavily responsible for global issues such as poverty in Africa and developing countries due to debt crisis and unfair trading policy, global warming due to carbon dioxide emission, the AIDS problem due to strict medicine patent policy and other problems that are related to the otherwise positive phenomenon of globalisation.

Certainly, there has been a modest increase in aid spending over the past two years. Yet, it has been woefully short of the very commitments contained in the communiqu้ signed by G8 leaders at Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005. But, this is not stopping African leaders from returning there to press further the continent’s case.

The African Union Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana lead a delegation of African heads of states invited to make what some critics called a "token appearance" at the summit. Other African leaders at the summit include South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. Also at the event is Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua, making his first trip abroad after his May 29 swearing-in.

At the just-ended Africa Business Forum before the G8 summit, it was concluded that strategies for reducing poverty in Africa would fail unless there is a concerted effort to facilitate private enterprise and trade. Participants to the forum, who included Presidents Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia and Ugandan Yoweri Museveni and other top-level representatives, said in a statement that actions to promote better investment, enterprise and employment should sit at the heart of any long-term strategy for a prosperous Africa.

Chairman of the Business Action Forum, Edward Bickham, said the forum, held on the eve of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, had taken note that the G8 leaders must use their influence to build Africa's capacity to trade.

He added that the forum welcomed the fact that climate change had been put high on the G8 summit agenda due to the fragility of Africa's agriculture and environment as climate change carried many risks for Africa, including desertification, water shortages and increase in malaria cases.

Bickham also said the top-level participants were unanimous that funding was required for adaptation for technology transfer and to enable Africa to take maximum advantage of the opportunities created by carbon trading and development mechanism projects under the Kyoto Protocol.

Many development experts have said that Africa needs the new aid package to tackle diseases, poverty and increased trade. But Asha-Rose Migiro said despite faster growth and strengthened institutions, Africa remains off-track to meeting the world's shared goals for fighting poverty in all its forms, hence the need for international support for the continent.

Presenting an update on sub-Saharan Africa's progress towards obtaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of global anti-poverty and development targets to be achieved by 2015, Ms. Migiro said the summit of G8 industrialised nations provides an opportunity for donor countries to lay out concrete timetables for how they will increase development assistance to African countries.

Among the challenges, she cited "shockingly high" maternal mortality rates, and the fact that the number of new HIV/AIDS cases is still rising faster than the rate at which new treatment is being offered. All of the challenges, she said, can be addressed using resources, skills and technologies that the international community has at its disposal, based on the commitments made by African Governments and the donor community alike.

There is pressure on the African leaders to show commitment in eliminating diseases and improving indices for the achievement of the MDGs. Parliamentarians from African, Asia, European and G-8 countries in Berlin on May 30 and 31, for the “G8 Parliamentarians Conference on the Economic Rewards of Investing in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Health” committed themselves to provide the political leadership on a national, European and international level to fight the pandemic and improve the wellbeing of the millions of people.

“We recall the international commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive heath by 2015 as set out in the Programme of Action from the International conference on Population and Development and as a target under Millennium Development Goal.We recognise that Africa’s development cannot be achieved without taking into account that the current increase of the HIV-infections lowers a country’s economic growth rates.

“We further recognised that sexual and reproductive health problems account for one third of the total health burden among women and are a leading driver of poverty. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is increasingly amongst the young and female, while poverty, malnutrition, malaria, TB and other infectious diseases, lack of clean water and sanitation are additional burdens to the HIV infection,” the parliamentarians said.
They warned that focusing on only one of these threats would not be sufficient as the future of a country lies in its people, particularly women and young people.

There will be “no future when they become victims of HIV/AIDS or poverty. Caring for those infected and affected by AIDS – including orphans - is a heavy burden, which continues to fall mainly to women. Older women, women heading households and grandmothers in particular deserve respect and need support.”


Source: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=80581

Africa: G8 - Much Talk, Too Few Results

By, Julio Godoy, Inter Press Service (Johannesburg), June 9, 2007

This year's summit of the G8 heads of government will likely be remembered as a "how not to" organise such an event, for the contrast between the expectations it raised and its negligible accomplishments, and for its enormous security costs.

The three-day Group of Eight summit, held in this Baltic seaside resort, ended with two vague, non-binding promises -- more aid for Africa, and negotiations towards a post-Kyoto Protocol international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- and failures in numerous other items on the agenda.

This G8 failure in Heiligendamm to pass its self-imposed test of credibility will certainly mark the future of its summits.

The leaders of the G8 countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States) said their farewells without an agreement on international trade negotiations, or on eliminating subsidies for agriculture in the industrialised world, a move that would give development a boost in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

No agreement was reached either on a new regulation of the highly speculative, and therefore risky, hedge funds, nor on the political status of the Serbian province of Kosovo.

At the same time, the only accords the G8 leaders reached in Heiligendamm -- on a medium-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and new aid for Africa -- are considered as weak compromises, tailored only to avoid the impression that the summit was a total failure.

On Friday, the G8 leaders agreed to allocate 60 billion U.S. dollars "over the coming years" to finance the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and a further 500 million dollars for the "Education for All" programme in Africa.

But development and aid experts consider this new pledge as a step backwards, compared to the promises made by the G8 at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to double development assistance by 2010. The Gleneagles deal would mean an annual increase of aid levels by 50 billion dollars starting in 2006.

"The whole declaration (on aid for Africa) is just cosmetic", Ulrich Post, development expert at the German non-governmental organisation Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger Aid), one of the country's largest aid campaigners.

Post regretted that the G8 declaration on Africa "only mentions agriculture (in Africa) with one single phrase. In the face of more than 200 million people suffering from chronic malnutrition, of which 80 percent live on rural areas, this behaviour is scandalous," Post added.

According to the development watchdog Oxfam, the new G8 aid promise for Africa means at best "just three billion U.S. dollars extra in aid by 2010."

Previous to the Heiligendamm summit, Oxfam had shown that the G8 countries would miss their 2010 target on aid for Africa by 30 billion dollars. "Today's announcement may only close that gap to 27 billion dollars," the organisation said Friday.

Other activists criticise the ambiguity of the G8 statement, which does not set a clear timetable for the allocation of the new promised assistance, nor does it define how much of the sum would truly be fresh aid.

The Irish rock musician and anti-poverty campaigner Bono described this ambiguity as "a deliberate language of obfuscation. It is deliberately misleading. I am exasperated," the U2 frontman said.

In addition, the new pledge for targeting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria does not fulfil the target estimated by the United Nations for the G8 countries, and which foresees a spending of 15 billion dollars per year through to 2010 on the HIV/AIDS fight alone.

Instead, the new aid promised at Heiligendamm commits the G8 countries to earmark about 12 billion dollars per year for all three diseases.

The G8 deal on cutting climate-changing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is also seen as a lip service to international environmental policy.

The group's joint statement on reducing GHG takes note of and expresses concern for "the recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports (which) concluded both, that global temperatures are rising, that this is caused largely by human activities and, in addition, that for increases in global average temperature, there are projected to be major changes in ecosystem structure and function with predominantly negative consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems, e.g. water and food supply."

But U.S. President George W. Bush and Russia's President Vladimir Putin agreed only to "seriously consider the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050," according to the statement. "We commit to achieving these goals," the paper says.

For Christoph Bals, director of the environmental organisation Germanwatch, the agreement opens the door for an international negotiation towards a new GHG reduction regime, under the framework of the UN, and with the participation of the U.S. government. (The United States is not part of the Kyoto Protocol.)

But the statement is not binding, and further negotiations, starting at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali, Indonesia, scheduled for December, will be a first test of the U.S commitment, and that of the Asian giants --China and India -- to join the post-Kyoto process.

The G8 leaders also failed to re-launch the negotiations on international trade in the stalled Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation, and did not advance towards eliminating its member countries farm subsidies, which constitute one of the main obstacles for development in Africa and other developing regions.

These disappointments round out the image of an expensive, futile event, where G8 leaders only paid lip services to its own commitments, and who isolated themselves from demonstrators -- and the world -- with costs for security alone estimated at more than 135 million dollars.

Japan is slated to host the G8 summit in 2008.


Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200706090062.html

At G8 Summit, Commitment on AIDS Treatment Threatened; Africa Needs Universal Access by 2010, not 50% Access

By, Zambia National AIDS Network, Earthtimes.org, June 5, 2007

Today the UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka, raised an alarm about a potential weakening of the international commitment for universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment.

Reports from inside the negotiations taking place prior to the G8 Summit in Germany suggest that some G8 countries favor a dramatic scaling back of the commitment to universal access to treatment, which was made two years ago.

Some delegations are urging that the G8's Communique include treatment targets that would represent only 50% coverage, that is, far less than universal coverage. In contrast, the G8 in 2005 committed to reaching universal access, which is defined as 80% coverage by UNAIDS. Between 10 and 12 million will need treatment by 2010, yet the same leaders are urging the Communique set a target of only "5 million in the next few years."

"Africa will suffer greatly if the commitment is scaled back," said Elizabeth Mataka, the UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa. Mataka is also currently the Executive Director of the Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN) and she represents non-governmental organizations from developing countries on the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and serves as the Board's Vice-Chair.

"It is very disturbing to hear that some G8 countries are seeking to weaken the world's resolve on this issue," she continued. "Just as we are trying to energize the global response to reach universal access, including by African governments themselves, the last thing we need is for the G8 to shift the goal posts."

"Communities have been mobilized towards voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), a critical entry point to prevention, and so we cannot hold back the tempo," Ms. Mataka said. "We have raised hopes and created demand, and we therefore have a more than moral obligation to ensure treatment for all."

"To achieve universal access the G8 should commit to provide US$30 billion in annual funding the UN says is needed for HIV/AIDS programs by 2010. They should also reaffirm their commitment to fully replenish the Global Fund at a level of between US$6 billion and US$8 billion by 2010," said Ms. Mataka. Zambia National AIDS Network

Elizabeth Mataka, +260-1-256789, +260-1-256791-2, mobile: +260-977-709665, liznmataka@zamnet.zm


Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,117410.shtml