At the 2007 G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, world leaders focused on Africa’s future for the second time in three years, a reflection of the remarkable advances underway in African development. In the end, the Heiligendamm summit did not deliver the big increases in resources needed to follow through on existing promises made by donors in 2005. While some leaders stepped up and fought hard for concrete commitments in areas such as health and education, the final Communiqué mostly avoided specific and accountable commitments. DATA criticized the Communiqué for its failure to commit the G8 to specific accountable targets. However, going forward, DATA will work to make these vague commitments firm and accountable and get the G8 to agree to an ambitious timetable for delivery of the additional $25 billion promised to Africa in 2010.

 

The following provides an overview of outcomes from the 2007 G8 Africa Communiqué.

OVERALL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
Reiteration of 2005 commitment to increase aid to Africa by $25 billion by 2010
Importantly, the G8 included in the communiqué a reiteration of its 2005 commitment to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Africa by $25 billion a year by 2010 (starting from a 2004 baseline). The G8 did not, however, commit to an accountable timetable for delivering its 2005 aid promises for Africa.

HEALTH
HIV/AIDS TB AND MALARIA
Commitment to provide $60 billion for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The only significant aid announcement for Africa at Heiligendamm was a G8 commitment to provide a total of $60 billion to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. While this big figure grabbed a lot of headlines, it is less significant than it first seems. The $60 billion announcement is misleading for three reasons:

Half of the $60 billion will come from the US, which recently announced a commitment to spend $30 billion between 2009-2013 to fight HIV/AIDS. According to DATA’s analysis, the $60 billion commitment, using the most generous assumptions, will add at most $2.4 billion in additional aid to Africa in 2010, and $3 billion globally. If this additional $2.4 billion came through in 2010, it would be almost 10 percent of the $25 billion in additional aid for Africa promised by 2010. This would be significant and welcome, but as the only noteworthy aid pledge to come out of Heiligendamm, it is not enough to put the G8 on track to deliver its overall aid promises to Africa.

HIV/AIDS
Commitment to provide treatment to 5 million people
The G8 reaffirmed its commitment to scale up towards “universal access” to treatment by 2010 and included a pledge to put 5 million people on treatment. It is not clear if this commitment is global or just for Africa and the Communiqué did not include a specific target date, reflecting likely disagreement in G8 negotiations.

UNAIDS defines universal access as providing treatment to 80% of people in most urgent need by 2010. The commitment to put 5 million people on treatment, if understood as a global commitment, falls far short of the goal of universal access by 2010. Reaching this goal would require putting roughly 10 million people on treatment. If the commitment is intended to just focus on Africa, then it would achieve universal access on the continent, using a previously accepted universal access estimate of 4 million people in need in 2010¹.

UNAIDS is in the process of updating its estimates for the number of people needing AIDS treatment. Preliminary figures suggest the numbers are rising compared to older estimates. The number of people requiring treatment globally by 2010 is now projected to be 11 million and could be as high as 16 million. The number of people requiring treatment in Africa by 2010 is now estimated to be between 7 million and 11 million. Therefore, according to these estimates, achieving universal access in Africa (providing treatment to 80% of those in urgent need) would require putting between 5.6 million and 8.8 million people on treatment.

Pediatric HIV/AIDS / Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT)
The G8 included important statements on the need to provide universal coverage of PMTCT programs by 2010 and meet the resource needs for providing pediatric treatment. The G8 also acknowledged the need to reduce financing gaps in the areas of maternal and child health and voluntary family planning, as well as the need to strengthen effective programs to end violence against women, as essential parts of the response to AIDS.

MALARIA
Reiteration of 2005 Gleneagles malaria commitment
The G8 included a reiteration of its 2005 commitment to reach 85% of those in need with malaria prevention and treatment by 2015 and achieve a 50% reduction in malaria-related deaths. However, the Communiqué did not include a reiteration of the 2005 commitment to spend an additional $1.5 billion annually on this effort. Recent estimates place the financing required to fight malaria in Africa at an average of $3.1 billion a year between 2007-2015.

GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TB, AND MALARIA
No specific financial pledges; acknowledgment of long-term resource need
The G8 did not make any specific financial pledges to the Global Fund. The Communiqué acknowledged the agreed-upon Global Fund target size of $6-$8 billion a year by 2010 and included a general pledge to replenish the Global Fund and provide long term predictable funding.

 

ACCESS TO MEDICINES
Limited focus on access to medicines
The G8 recognized the importance of access to medicines for HIV/AIDS, however, the Communiqué is limited in its scope on this issue. First, it only refers to one TRIPS flexibility tool (the TRIPS and public health paragraph 6 mechanism developed in 2003) which has been criticized as ineffective. Secondly, it only addresses the issue of access to medicines for HIV/AIDS and ignores the importance of other pharmaceuticals for diseases such as TB, hepatitis, cancer, etc.

EDUCATION
No specific financial pledge. General commitment to meet funding shortfalls in 2007
The G8 did not make an explicit financial commitment to fill the external financing gaps of the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) endorsed countries. Instead, the Communiqué states the G8 will work to “meet shortfalls” in the FTI endorsed countries, which the Communiqué acknowledges to be $500 million for the 31 endorsed countries. Of these 31 endorsed countries, 19 are in Africa and their external financing gaps collectively total $367 million of the $500 million.

TRADE
No new commitments
The G8 Declaration on trade contains no new commitments. The Declaration reiterates the need for a conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda and refers to the statement by the US, EU, Brazil and India (the so-called G-4) in April stating an intention to make progress in the coming weeks with the aim of completing negotiations by the end of 2007. The Declaration calls on the leadership to “translate the continued commitment on political level into tangible results,” emphasizes the importance of the development dimension of the negotiations, and the need for close cooperation among all WTO members. In the Africa Communiqué, the G8 simply repeated their commitment to increase aid for trade funding to a total of $4 billion for all developing countries. This amount does not come close to meeting Africa’s aid for trade needs, as preliminary estimates show that aid for trade needs for Africa alone are approximately $12-13 billion annually.

GOVERNANCE
No new commitments
The G8 reiterated its support for the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and a desire to assist African countries in strengthening these efforts. The G8 did not mention increasing financial support to these efforts, as they did in 2005 at Gleneagles. Similarly, the Communiqué includes no mention of the G8’s support for the ratification and implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption and its provisions for the recovery of stolen assets. It also includes no mention of the OECD Convention Against the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.

PEACE AND SECURITY
No new commitments
The G8 reaffirmed its commitment to the Africa Standby Force and pledged to devote greater attention to confliction prevention, reconstruction, reconciliation and development in post-conflict countries.

G8 leaders issued a separate statement on Darfur, which expressed deep concern about the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur and in neighboring Chad and Central African Republic. Leaders stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the targeting of civilians and aid workers so that a political agreement can be negotiated.

 

¹ - “AIDS in Africa: Three scenarios to 2025” UNAIDS. March 2005.