On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it would increase lending to low-income countries to help contend with the global economic crisis. The IMF is expected to provide up to $17 billion to these countries through 2014, including up to $8 billion over the next two years. Additionally, the IMF said that these countries would not be required to pay interest on any IMF loans, including outstanding through 2011.
At their meeting in April, G20 leaders asked the IMF to respond to the global financial crisis and called for $6 billion in new lending to low-income countries. In April, ONE joined other organizations to ask the IMF to build upon successes of the G20 Summit in London and provide African countries with the resources they need to get through the financial crisis in a way that does not create unsustainable levels of debt. ONE called on the IMF to direct more of their own resources and more of the anticipated profits from an impending sale of gold reserves to finance these efforts. The IMF has met requests to increase low-interest resources. Critically, the Fund also announced that all loans through 2011 will have no interest rate charges. Interest rates after 2011 will also be reduced.
The IMF’s announcement as also included new provisions for delivery, including new and re-vamped lending instruments to better suit each country’s needs. These instruments include a standby credit facility for countries to draw funds from when necessary, improving flexibility for recipients. The resources for these new loans will come partially from the sale of IMF gold reserves, explained representatives of the IMF.
The fund said lending to low income countries has increased over the past year to four times historical levels. In sub-Saharan Africa, new IMF lending commitments from January to mid July 2009 reached $2.7 billion compared with $1.1 billion for all of 2008. The World Bank estimates that as many as 50 million people risk being pushed into extreme poverty in 2009. This scaled-up funding represents an IMF effort to limit this damage. The fallout from the financial crisis continues to impair developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
In response to the IMF’s announcement, ONE supporter Bob Geldof said, “until recently, trillions had been found for fiscal stimulus packages for the rich world but nothing much for the bottom billion. Dominic Strauss Kahn’s radical leadership at the IMF has delivered a major breakthrough for the poorest countries being battered by an economic crisis not of their making. Great credit goes also to Barney Frank and the U.S. Treasury for their strenuous work in driving this deal forward.”
In addition to what IMF has announced today, we are hopeful that the IMF is exploring options to provide more resources for grants or debt relief.
Last week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report tracking donor funding for health in low- and middle- income countries. The report notes how Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the wealthy countries of the world, who are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), represents most of the donor funding going toward health in the developing world. This annual report is an important contribution to tracking the global health response and complements ONE’s own DATA Report. The Kaiser report looks at ODA funding commitments for health between 2001 and 2007 and across developing countries in all regions, not just Africa. It also includes water and sanitation activities in its definition of health which is a broader scope than other health financing reports. Importantly, the data in this report are from the period just prior to the current global economic crisis, meaning budgeting decisions had not yet been impacted.
The main points from the report are that health ODA has increased significantly (tripling from $7.2 billion in 2001 to $22.1 billion in 2007), including as a share of overall ODA (from 12.9% of all commitments in 2001, to 17.7% of all commitments in 2007). However, the rate of increase in health ODA is slowing, and health ODA experienced the slowest rate of (nominal) increase for many years during the period from 2006-2007. This slowing rate of growth occurred prior to the global economic crisis, so the future of health ODA is still unclear.
Another key point is that the U.S. was the single largest donor to health, going from $1.7 billion in health ODA in 2001 (23% of all donors) to $6.0 billion in 2007 (27% of all donors). The remaining donors in 2007 include European nations, together, at $6.3 billion (28% of donor commitments), multilateral donors at $5.7 billion (26%), the European Commission at $1 billion (5%), and other donors at $3.1 billion (14%).
Your senators are coming home for August recess, giving you a great opportunity to meet them at their district offices and help advance the fight against global poverty.
Over the coming months, the Senate will make critical decisions about helping the world’s poorest people deal with the impact of climate change, as well as the Water for the World Act, funding for programs including the Global Fund, and other aspects of development policy. Your senators care what their constituents have to say, and a face-to-face meeting is the best way for you to voice your concerns.
This is our chance to demonstrate real grassroots support for proven, affordable solutions to extreme poverty and preventable diseases.
Right now, all you have to do is let us know—through your RSVP—which district office you’d be interested in visiting. We need constituents to make the phone calls to set up the times and dates for these meetings, so we’ll fill you in on that information later.
Reuters: Clinton Must Strike the Right Tone in Africa
Reuters writes that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces a delicate job striking the right tone on her seven-nation trip to Africa next week if she wants to compete against China’s growing influence. Pressing for good governance is seen as important in Africa, but experts said Clinton must calibrate that message with investment opportunities and follow through on promises. Clinton’s first stop will be Kenya for a trade meeting between the US and sub-Saharan African countries where she will discuss new approaches to investment and broad-based economic growth.
Reuters: Clinton Will Push South Africa to Pressure Zimbabwe
In another story previewing the trip, Reuters reports that Sec. Clinton will press South Africa to use its influence with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe when she is in Pretoria next week, according to a senior American official. She will urge the regional diplomatic heavyweight to get Mugabe to fully implement a power-sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai so that Zimbabwe can return to democratic rule. South African President Jacob Zuma has taken a harder line on Zimbabwe than his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, but the United States would like Zuma to do more to quicken the country’s pace of reform.
All Africa: South Africa: Country to Participate in 2010 Doha Round of Negotiations
South Africa will participate in the next Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations to ensure developing nations have a voice, the government confirmed yesterday. A South African minister said that the country would work to see that a proper balance between the demand for industrial tariff reduction and agricultural negotiations is reached at the talks. Leaders of the G8 and the five major developing nations have agreed to meet to discuss trade before the G20 in Pittsburgh.
New York Times: Nigeria Confirms Death of Islamic Sect’s Leader
Nigerian security forces on Thursday confirmed the death of the leader of a fundamentalist Islamic sect, apparently ending a fierce five-day campaign that may have left hundreds dead. News agencies report that the leader was killed while in police custody. Nigeria is frequently troubled with conflict, but this latest violence has been surprising because of the intensity of the military response. Human rights groups have expressed concern over civilian casualties from the armed operation in a densely populated area.
Reuters: Striking South Africa Union Workers Reach Wage Deal
South Africa’s council workers’ union said today that it has agreed with the government on a pay increase almost twice the rate of inflation, ending a five-day strike that challenged President Jacob Zuma’s economic policies. The settlement could put added strain on the economy, which has fallen into South Africa’s first recession since 1992. And though the raise is a gain for unions, investors are keen for the government to stick to what they see as the sound economic policies that have helped shield South Africa from the worst of the global downturn.
Houston Chronicle: Bill Frist: Improve World Health Care by Increasing Prosperity
Bill Frist writes that “as the health care reform debate unfolds domestically, we face an opportune moment to recalculate for the better how we maximize the success of our efforts abroad to strengthen global health.” He says good health support for developing countries is as much about putting health infrastructure in place as it is improving their physical state (in terms of roads and water) and institutional capacity. He cites the Millenium Challenge Corporation as an example of such an approach to global health.
Another amazing day in Kenya! Today I was able to meet with many people in my age group! Most of the people we were able to meet today were HIV-positive. This was an uplifting experience because most of these people have so much hope and a positive outlook on life.
Where I would like to focus my blog post on today is MSM (men who have sex with men) and the political impact of the 2007 election. We met with a group that is participating in outreach and support group services from Tuungane Youth Center in Kisumu.
First off, a little background on the situation of these men. Most of them live in the shadows of Kenya because it is illegal for men to have sexual contact with other men. But at the forefront of their concern is the large stigma that is attached to being a man who has sex with men. Some of these men would not identify themselves as homosexual, but rather heterosexual. This is because some have become commercial sex workers in order to make a living. Others would classify themselves as homosexuals, but they may never be able to openly be who they are. All of these men knew their HIV status.
During the 2007 post election violence, many of them lost friends, family members, and partners. Some also had to flee to outlying cities of Kisumu because of what the violence does to their tribal/ethnic heritage. For commercial sex workers, it was also a very difficult time because financial means of purchasing sex were very limited to their clients.
Some of the members of this group talked about starting their own revolution so that they can receive the basic right to be themselves. They also talked about not being able to speak to their members of Parliament because they would be jailed or ousted for being MSM.
This was also a time for them to ask us questions. Many of them thought that LGBT people in the United States were treated fairly just like other citizens. We informed them that much of the United States has a large stigma against homosexuality. They were very surprised by this.
What many of these men felt that they needed was much more access to MSM health care. But most importantly, water-based lubricant, which increases the likelihood of condom usage. Condoms are readily available in Kenya but lubricant is very expensive and many cannot afford it. This was something that the MSM community feels that funding for sexual health for all must be increased.
That’s all I have today! If you have any questions, please leave a comment!
John Sauer of Water Advocates yesterday filmed this short interview with Jae So, the manager of the Water and Sanitation Program with the World Bank. They filmed this iReport at a briefing at the Capitol Building called “Water is Medicine: Why Water and Sanitation Matter to Global Public Health.”
Today was spent learning a lot about youth, and visiting a number of facilities that reach out to youth ages 10-21 with HIV counseling and testing, STI treatment, and even male circumcision. The clinics have served over 12,000 women in their family planning program, which teaches parents how to talk with their children about sex and safe sex practices.
Some of the areas have women and children days, where the services, which are always free, focus on the women and children that come to the facilities. There are a number of support groups for single mothers, HIV-positive teens and young adults, and wives in the area.
I spoke to one woman today named Eunice Chacha. She is 22 years old, with two children, and found out she was HIV-positive three years ago. She was always very sick, and finally was tested. When she told her husband, he left her. She found herself alone and sick, with one child and a baby on the way. She attempted suicide twice before the Tuungane Youth Center stepped in and got her free assistance, as well as a support group to talk to. She is now very healthy and strong, and both of her children are HIV free.
I think every woman I met today reminded me that women are very powerful, no matter where they live or what challenges they face. I am eager to see what more I can learn about women in the next couple of days.
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.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
