Millions of the Planet’s Most Vulnerable Citizens are Relying on the World’s Richest Nations to Fulfill their Previous Commitments

Background

When the "Group of Eight" met in 2005 in Gleneagles, Scotland, it promised to increase annual foreign aid by US $50 billion from 2004 to 2010, to a level of $130 billion ($35 billion was to come from G8 nations and the remainder from non-G8 donors).  Unfortunately, it is halfway toward the target date of 2010 and yet G8 aid has increased by only 14 percent of the total committed.[1]

When the G8 met at the 2007 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, G8 leaders further pledged to prevent "twenty-four million new [HIV/AIDS] infections, and to care for twenty-four million people, including 10 million orphans and vulnerable children."

Call to Action

Global Action for Children (GAC) calls on the G8 to fulfill its previous commitments and to devote 12 percent of overall HIV and AIDS funding to the treatment, care and protection of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

Adequate Funding is Urgently Needed

Today, almost 27,000 children under the age of 5 will die - most of them from preventable or treatable causes, such as pneumonia or diarrhea.  Half of those children will be in sub-Saharan Africa.  This loss of nearly 10 million children each year - equivalent to every child living in the eastern half of the United States - has humanitarian, economic, and political consequences - a global tragedy.  And nearly 4 million of these children die within the first month of life.  There are successes, and there is progress in cutting child mortality rates worldwide.  But progress is far too slow - particularly in Africa - to achieve the 4^th Millennium Development Goal of reducing child deaths to 4 million each year by 2015. 

Of the children worldwide who survive these prolific killers, 143 million suffer the pain of losing one or both parents.  With the loss of a parent goes a child’s first defense against disease or danger and begins a spiral of deprivation for the child.

UNAIDS estimates that prevention, treatment and care programs for children affected by AIDS will require roughly 12 percent of total AIDS expenditures for the years 2008 through 2010.  Ramped up global efforts to prevent child deaths and protect and support vulnerable children are absolutely necessary and must be carried out. 

The Power of the G8

The members of the G8, as countries with the vast majority of the world’s resources, can make the difference between whether or not these child lives are saved and protected, simply by delivering on the promises they made in Gleneagles and Heiligendamm.  In addition, they can encourage other donor nations, recipient countries and UN agencies to follow their example.

The United States Moving in the Right Direction

The United States has taken steps in the right direction with the earmark of 10 percent of its PEPFAR funding (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) for OVC.  In addition to the 10 percent, the U.S. is providing additional funding for pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment and preventing mother to child transmission of the disease.  GAC calls on the G8 members and other donor and recipient nations to do the same. 

The Time is Now

The G8 has the power to greatly improve and save the lives of 6 million of the world’s most vulnerable children and at least 2 million adults per year.[2]  In addition to the 6 million children whose lives would be saved directly, millions of additional children would be protected from the vulnerability of orphan-hood. 

An additional $50 billion a year in assistance to poor countries could achieve the following (if targeted in an effective manner[3]):

• Universal prevention, treatment and care for people affected by HIV and AIDS;
• Scaling up child and maternal health strategies that could save 6 million child lives a year;
• Effective responses to malaria and TB;
• Quality basic education for all children.

Millions of innocent children have died needlessly or been orphaned or made vulnerable since the promise made by the G8 in 2005.  There is no time to waste.  Global Action for Children calls on G8 leaders to act today to stop this catastrophe by increasing development assistance by $35 billion a year, as promised, and to provide 12 percent of HIV and AIDS expenditures, specifically for all affected children and, in particular, for the more than 10 million orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. 

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[1] World Vision, A Matter of Life or Death

[2] Jones, Steketee, Black et al, "How many child deaths can we prevent this year?" The Lancet

[3] The G8 must ensure effectiveness of aid by delivering it in the form of real monetary transfers, refraining from applying economic conditionalities to it and coordinating it around the priorities and plans of recipient countries.  The G8 must also ensure the removal of International Financial Institution policies that hinder the provision of basic health services in developing countries.