A spokesman for the NGO Action Aid said the G8 has failed to keep its financial promises to Africa. Collins Magalasi, the director of policy for Action Aid/Malawi, said that at the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, two years ago, the group promised an extra 50 billion dollars to the developing world to help fight poverty and disease, with about 30 billion of that going to Africa. He said G8 has not released the amount promised.
Magalasi also said the G8 promised to provide resources for universal access to HIV medications, with the aim of providing access to 10 million people by 2010. So far, he said only 1.2 million have access to the drugs out of the estimated five million who need it.
Critics of the G8 say an OECD study shows that seven G8 countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US) have increased aid to Africa by less than half of the amount needed to reach the goal set at Gleneagles. Critics say total G8 aid to Africa increased by $2.3 billion since 2004, but the promise made at Gleneagles was to increase aid by $5.4 billion
(Note: This interview was broadcast at 1800 UTC on June 6th, 2007.)
