PHA-Exchange> Editorial from Datelinehealth-Africa.net: Debt relief & AIDS
Aviva
aviva at netnam.vn
Sun Mar 2 07:54:17 PST 2003
From: "A. Odutola" <chpss_abo2 at yahoo.com>
> Editorial from Datelinehealth-Africa.net: Debt relief & AIDS
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Deeper debt relief will better help poor countries to fight AIDS
>
> WASHINGTON - February 26, 2003: In January 2003 President Bush pro-
> posed the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, calling on Congress to
> spend an additional $10 billion over the next five years to help
> countries in Africa and the Caribbean fight AIDS. The US announced
> that 14 countries with the highest rates of HIV infection in Africa
> and the Caribbean would be the targeted beneficiaries of the addi-
> tional $10 billion.
>
> However, according to the United Nations Development Program statis-
> tics, in the same period these 14 countries would pay approximately
> $36 billion in total debt-servicing to their creditors in the rich
> countries
>
> Each year these countries will continue to pay out more money than
> they will receive from the President's AIDS initiative
>
> US Senate AIDS Proposal Would Have Helped
>
> The AIDS bill that passed the US Senate unanimously last year, spon-
> sored by Senators Frist and Kerry, would have:
>
> * Lowered debt so that no qualifying highly indebted poor country
> pays more than 5% of its budget on debt service annually (10% if the
> country has no AIDS or health crisis). Currently, the 26 HIPCs at
> decision point pay 15% of their budgets on debt.
>
> * Reduced poor country debt payments by a $1 billion every year. Cur-
> rently, the heavily indebted poor countries spend $2 billion every
> year in debt service that could otherwise go to health, education and
> the fight against AIDS.
>
>
> Examples of How Debt Relief Helps Fight AIDS
>
> In dozens of countries, debt relief savings have helped to fund the
> fight against HIV/AIDS. Here are only a few examples:
>
> * Uganda, the first country to receive debt relief used US$ 1.3 mil-
> lion of its debt savings specifically for their national HIV/AIDS
> plan. This investment played a key role in the government's success
> in reducing HIV infection rates by 40%
>
> * Cameroon received a US$ 114 million cut in debt service. With help
> from debt savings, a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategic plan
> for was launched. The plan included promoting behavior change among
> young people, making voluntary testing and counseling widely avail-
> able and preventing HIV transmission from pregnant women to their ba-
> bies.
>
> * Malawi received a cut in debt service of 30%, or US$ 28 million.
> These funds financed the purchase of critical drugs for hospitals and
> health centers, hiring extra staff and support in primary health cen-
> ters, and training new nurses.
>
> Evidently, deeper debt relief and not adhoc grants-in-aid will help
> many poor countries fight AIDS better and produce lasting and sus-
> tainable improvements in quality of life in these countries.
>
> Author contact:
> Mara Vanderslice
> JUBILEE USA NETWORK
> Phone: 202-783-0129
>
> Source: Cross-posted as "fair use" from the Globalization and Health
> Listserv (globalizationandhealth at topica.com). Feb. 27, 2003.
>
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