In the wake of the G8 in Canada, during which wealthy nations gathered to discuss and pledge their commitments to maternal, newborn, and child health, African leaders met this week in Uganda for the 15th African Union Summit. Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Africa regional director of Partners in Population & Development, gives us his take on the Summit’s discussions and how he sees momentum from the Summit carrying forward into this fall’s MDG Summit in New York City and beyond.
No more excuses. That was the main message coming out of Kampala this past week after the 15th African Union Summit brought African leaders and high-ranking ministers together under the auspices of “maternal, infant and child health and development in Africa.”
In a debate session that lasted more than twice the allotted time, African leaders discussed the critical role of maternal health in moving the African continent forward. Leaders also agreed to renew the Maputo Plan of Action (PDF), a critical framework that ensures the rights and health of women and girls on issues of education, safe abortion, family planning and economic opportunity. Having it signed, in place and ready to be actualized is absolutely imperative.
No more excuses — we must address maternal health and women’s rights issues in Africa. While there has been outstanding leadership on these issues from all over the continent, our maternal health indicators continue to dwindle at the utmost bottom, globally. The vastness of the African continent, coupled with the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the levels of poverty in many parts of our countries mean that the road to improving maternal health could not be harder.
Governor Huckabee recently released a statement outlining his plan to fight global HIV/AIDS if elected president. Governor Huckabee committed to supporting President Bush’s $30 billion plan over five years for a second round of the emergency AIDS plan. The Governor also committed to increasing support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
ONE Vote ’08 applauds the governor for releasing his plans to fight HIV/AIDS. We look forward to hearing more from the governor about his plans to fight global poverty and disease.
Yesterday, Hillary Clinton issued a release outlining her plan for fighting both the domestic and global HIV/AIDS epidemics. In addition to committing to doubling funding for research towards a vaccine, she made several commitments specific to global HIV/AIDS including:
· Renewing her commitment to providing at least $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS by 2013 including an increased commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
· The statement says that Senator Clinton “will seek in the near term to double the number of people receiving treatment and put us on a path to reach the goal of universal access to medications.” She also provides commitments on health infrastructure including increasing the number of health workers in Africa by at least one million; this was a recommendation from the Commission on Africa report published in 2005.
· Senator Clinton is a sponsor of the Education for All Act currently in the Senate. There is a clear link between children being in school and those children avoiding contracting HIV. The Senator renewed her commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of universal basic education by 2015.
· Senator Clinton made specific mention of sub-populations especially impacted by the epidemic, women and children.
ONE Vote ’08 applauds Senator Clinton for presenting her plan to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. The new UNAIDS statistics released this past week confirm that the AIDS epidemic is still a crisis that will demand greater resources to beat. Our nation’s next president will be counted on to meet this looming challenge.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
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