The effort to eradicate polio received an influx of $635 million today to intensify vaccination campaigns in India and Nigeria over the next five years. Rotary International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the governments of Germany and Britain provided this new money for the two countries that account for more than 80 percent of the remaining 1,633 polio cases. This is good news for the polio eradication effort, which has suffered setbacks, but could help polio to join smallpox on the list of eradicated diseases.

Polio has proved to be a challenging disease to eradicate. Polio often lies ‘silent’ in the body, which means that people may not show signs of illness and thus may not know they are infected. The virus can spread widely through a community during this time. Since polio causes paralysis in only 1 of 200 people, public health authorities may not be aware of the infection until it has spread extensively. Also, to successfully eradicate polio, all three strains of the virus must be eliminated. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) uses a vaccine that contains weakened forms of all three strains. This vaccine can successfully immunize people against future exposure to the polio virus and eventually lead to eradication.

Recognizing this potential, in 2005 the G8 committed to contribute $829 million between 2006 and 2008 to the polio eradication effort. Since then, donors have begun to close the financing gap. ONE’s 2008 Data Report describes this progress, and notes that the United States, followed by the UK and Japan have been the largest G8 donors to the GPEI. Hopefully, with this new $635 million donation to the fight against polio, eradication can become a reality.

-Lisa Fleisher

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll remember back in June that ONE released the 2008 DATA Report (and blog posts). The DATA report is ONE’s chance each year to publish progress on keeping the promises that the G8 countries made to Africa back in 2005. Promises are great, but when they don’t lead to action, we can’t let this go unnoticed.

The DATA Report is published in June each year to make the data available before the G8 Summit which usually happens in early July. Though this can help us achieve maximum impact with the report, there is a disadvantage to this. The OECD’s DAC (Development Assistance Committee), who collects the data from governments, publishes only preliminary figures in April; we don’t get the final, and more thoroughly reviewed data, until December. This year’s final review uncovered some significant differences in country progress so ONE has released an update to the 2008 DATA Report.

Before I get into the numbers, a quick note about what these numbers are and what they are not. For those of you in the United States, we often write about authorizations, budgets and appropriations – we come to you often to use your voice to impact these things. What the DAC measures is disbursement, or how much money actually left the US government’s treasury in a given year. This is true for other donor nations as well – this is not the budget or the CSR (in the UK), this is how much was actually spent. Though primarily we do need to get a big enough appropriation/budget to enable disbursements, we also need to make sure that it is being sent to promote African development and not just sitting in a bank account in the donor country. Using the DAC’s figures gives advocates a universal measure across OECD donor nations and is the way the Gleneagles commitments are monitored.

So, what are the final numbers?

The final figures reveal that in total, donors provided (more…)

Another video and post from ONE’s Tom Gavin from last week’s trip to Rwanda.

Monday, July 21:

The U.S. launched PEPFAR – the American global AIDS strategy – at the Masaka Clinic in 2004, so it made for a good place for the ONE delegation to visit and assess how things are going. Our delegation met with doctors, nurses, local officials, and patients seeking treatment and counsel from the clinic’s staff. We heard, time and again, the difference that America’s partnership in health care was making in Rwanda and throughout Africa.

The DATA Report, which ONE released earlier this year, shows the progress being made. It points out that, across Africa, nearly 2.12 million people were on antiretroviral therapy by last December, a huge jump from the 50,000 people on treatment in 2002. That means 30 percent of Africans in need of treatment are receiving it. But there remains a major challenge ahead. An additional 1.7 million Africans became infected with the HIV virus in 2007.

After touring the Masaka Clinic, some of the ONE delegation discussed the site visit and the overall trip with reporters.

-Tom Gavin

Today, the Financial Times published an article based on a draft G8 communiqué obtained by the newspaper . The draft communiqué for the Hokkaido Summit mentions the development assistance goals for Africa made in Gleneagles in 2005, but drops mention of the specific target, approximately $25 billion. The communiqué recommits the G8 to working towards the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, but drops mention of doing so by the original promised date of 2010.

ONE just published its 2008 DATA Report that monitors G8 commitments to Africa from Gleneagles. One of our headline findings is that the G8 have only delivered 14% of their promised development assistance increases. The G8 committed to $21.8 billion (the $25b was an approximation that was made before clarifications by the countries), but now, half way to the 2010 target date, they have only collectively delivered $3 billion of this promise. On AIDS: despite great progress (nearly 30% of Africans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment now are receiving them), there are still nearly 5 million people on the continent that are in need of treatment in order to stay alive.

No wonder then that the G8 wants to hide from their earlier promises. This is hard work. Their slow delivery until now has made the road to delivering the promises a bit steeper, but these are the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world’s history. The G8 as a whole is spending 0.07% of their GNI on development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. This is NOT a big budget item. If the G8 want to honor their commitment to Africa, they can. The road to doing so is shown here in this.

We can’t hide the numbers of people waiting for life-saving HIV medications and we can’t hide the millions of children waiting for the opportunity to go to school. The G8 shouldn’t hide the commitments they made in 2005 and recommitted to in 2006 in Russia and in 2007 in Germany.

The G8 will be tackling a host of issues critical to all of us: a global financial crisis, climate change, the food crisis, an economic downturn, and the role the G8 will play in the growth of Africa. On all these issues, the G8’s ability to keep their promises will determine whether they will be a relevant and trustworthy body in the 21st century.

The FT reported that what they obtained is a draft communiqué. Rather than backtracking, the G8 must at the very least include a recommitment to their promises to Africa. What they should be doing is taking a step forward by setting annual timetables for meeting their overall development assistance commitments and specifying a timetable for meeting their health commitments from the Heiligendamm Summit. One week from today, the G8 Summit starts in Japan. We will find out shortly if the G8 will stand by their word.

-Josh Lozman

Last week, ONE launched the DATA Report in France. I posted a few blogs entries covering the overall findings, the launch itself and a more detailed look at the United States’ performance.

But, we launched the report in France for a few reasons. First, the 4 EU G8 (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) make up more than 75% of the promised increases in aid from the G8. France takes over the presidency of the EU on July 1 and alone makes up 23% of the promised increases. And, though France has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund, they have only delivered 6.7% of their promised increases so far. In short, France made a huge promise, but delivery has been weak. This story is true across the EU G8.

France cut aid to Africa in 2007. Wrong direction. France has committed to increase aid to Africa by $4.986 billion by 2010. Of that promised increase, they have only delivered $334 million. In order to get back on a linear track towards their 2010 target, France would have to increase aid to Africa by over $1.5 billion dollars next year. Though a sizeable amount, this number is so big because France has been so slow in increasing aid so far. France is really important for Africa, both historically and now. As France becomes the President of the EU and decides its internal budget, President Sarkozy and the French people need to demonstrate that they are going to meet their commitment Africa.

Germany was last year’s host of the G8 and promised to get on track to meet their commitments after a very slow start. Chancellor Merkel and Germany increased aid to Africa by $311 million last year. Though not enough to get back on track, it was a big step in the right direction. Next year, we expect Germany to increase aid by $634 million – again moving closer to being on track. Germany hosted a strong Global Fund replenishment conference in Berlin late last year and has made strong progress, but there is still a long way to go towards accomplishing Germany’s promised increases of $3.969 billion by 2010.

Italy is a tricky story. Italy’s aid to Africa has actually decreased below the level it was at in 2004. But, Italy posted the largest increase in 2007: $417 million. As Prime Minister Berlusconi returns to office this year, it is our hope that he will push Italy to make this large increase the start of sustained progress rather than just a one year anomaly.

All of these commitments were started in 2005 at the Gleneagles Summit hosted by the United Kingdom. Though Tony Blair was then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has always been a strong supporter of Africa and global development generally. We were surprised to see that UK aid to Africa this year only increased by $48 million. Despite this small increase, the UK has accomplished more of its promised increases than any other country – 26%, and looking at the UK’s three year budget, called the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), ONE is fairly sure that the UK will meet their commitment to increase aid to Africa by $3.908 billion over 2004 levels. Our colleagues and fellow advocates in the UK will hold the government accountable to these commitments until they are met.

Following through on the G8 promises to Africa will be a test of the EU G8’s ability to keep to their word as we continue this transition to a globalized business and political world. It is essential both for Africa’s development and for the G8’s ability to act as global leaders that they keep these commitments.

The next two blog posts on the DATA Report will be about Japan, this year’s G8 host, and Canada.

-Josh Lozman

The DATA Report, which ONE launched in Paris on Wednesday, tracks each G8 country’s progress towards delivering its commitments on aid to Africa.

This year’s report found that although U.S. delivery has been slower than hoped, increases in assistance primarily for HIV/AIDS and malaria (areas in which the U.S. is a clear leader) are starting to come. By next year, we predict the increases will double and analysis shows that by 2010 the U.S. is likely to have delivered on its commitment.

Though good news, it’s our job to make sure this actually happens! You can help by signing the PEPFAR petition.

At a time when the U.S. is electing a new president, we hope the current commitments will be seen as a floor to build upon. The U.S. commitment was smaller than others when you compare it to the size of our economy, so now that the U.S. looks likely to achieve this commitment, it would be good to see the U.S. take leadership and make a bigger commitment.

Here are the numbers:

· 2010 Target for ODA to Africa: $8.8bn

· 2007 ODA to Africa: $5.414bn

· Change in ODA to Africa between 2006-2007: $413m

· Change in ODA to Africa between 2004-2007: $581m

· % of increases achieved: 15

· Increase needed between 2007-2008: $1.2bn ($1.1bn in 2004 prices)

· Estimated increase between 2007-2008: $940m ($868m in 2004 prices)

(More G8 countries’ reports to follow.)

-Josh Lozman

From the AP:

“PARIS (AP) — Bono, Bob Geldof and other celebrities pressed the world’s wealthiest countries Wednesday to come through with more pledged financial aid for Africa…

“What this big, long, exact, cold and brutal analysis shows us is that halfway to this historic date of 2010 — halfway — these wealthy countries … have delivered 14 percent. How tragic is that?” Geldof told reporters in Paris….

The report said that 2.1 million Africans are on life-saving AIDS drugs, up from 50,000 in 2002; that 26 million children were immunized against life-threatening diseases from 2001 to 2006; and that 29 million children in Africa entered school for the first time between 1999 and 2005 because of debt relief and increased aid.”

Stay tuned for more posts about details in the report, or check it all out yourself here.

Halfway to 2010, only 14% of the G8’s promise to Africa has been delivered.

In 2005, the G8 made a series of commitments to Africa that included a doubling of development assistance to the continent by 2010 and a collection of specific pledges like achieving universal access to AIDS treatment, supporting universal primary education and making trade work for Africa. Today in Paris, ONE launched the DATA Report 2008 (http://one.org/report/en/index.html), which monitors G8 progress towards these goals. This year’s report shows that the G8 are falling further behind on their 2005 commitment to contribute an additional $22 billion in assistance to Africa by 2010. The G8 are halfway to the 2010 deadline, but so far have only delivered $3 billion, or 14%, of the $22 billion commitment. If the G8 continue at their current pace, they will not keep their promises to Africa.

There is also good news. As you have read in this blog many times before, the assistance that has been delivered is making a real, measurable difference on the ground, saving lives and brightening futures for millions of Africans. Because of recent increases in development assistance:

· 2.1 million Africans are on life-saving AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 in 2002.

· 26 million children were immunized and against a group of life-threatening diseases between 2001 and 2006,

· 29 million African children were able to enter school for the first time as a direct result of debt relief and increased assistance between 1999 and 2005,

· 59 million bed nets had been distributed by the Global Fund alone, helping to dramatically reduce malaria rates in countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

These statistics are proof that aid works and that G8 failure is unacceptable. There are no more excuses for the G8 not to deliver what it promised in 2005. The DATA Report lays out a clear roadmap for how the G8 can get on track to meet their 2010 goals by scaling-up measures that have been proven to work.

Read more about the DATA Report’s specific findings on development assistance. (more…)

ONE just wrapped up the launch of the DATA Report 2008 in Paris. What an event! We had an amazing group of panelists that included rockstars, advocates, development experts and doctors. A room full of journalists seemed to get the message loud and clear: aid is delivering remarkable results across Africa. Now we need to get this message to the G8 so they can get to work on making sure that their commitments to Africa are met by 2010.

At the Press Club near the Arc de Triomphe, ONE was joined by: Bono; Bob Geldof; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS; TB and Malaria, singer and activist Angelique Kidjo; Arunma Oteh, Vice President, Corporate Services of the African Development Bank and French tennis star Yannick Noah.

Stay tuned here for some footage of the event and an analysis of the report’s findings.

(You can also read the summary and download the whole report here.)

-Josh Lozman