Reuters 1. March 2007

BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - Group of Eight president Germany aims to secure funding for a campaign to fight HIV/AIDS in African women and children at a meeting of industrialised nations in June, Germany’s development minister told Reuters.

Germany, which also holds the rotating European Union presidency, will press G8 nations to honour their aid promises to Africa, minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said, after NGO criticism that rich nations are going back on their word.

“I hope at the G8 summit in June in Heiligendamm there will be a clear signal for fighting HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and that a fixed amount will be pledged which will be used to target aids prevention in women and children,” she said.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged to continue work started by Prime Minister Tony Blair during Britain’s G8 presidency in 2005 to tackle poverty in Africa.
In southern Africa more than 60 percent of those infected with HIV/AIDS were women, Wieczorek-Zeul said, a trend which has increased dramatically in recent years due to stigma about using contraception and the spread of disease in younger women.

The Social Democrat (SPD) minister urged other G8 member states — the United States, Russia, Italy, Britain, France, Japan and Canada — to stand by promises made at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles where nations pledged to double the amount of aid they give to Africa by 2010.

She said Germany was giving 400 million euros ($528.7 million) in 2007 to help fight AIDS, including its contributions to European Union efforts and other global campaigns.

FULFILLING PROMISES
British-based charity Oxfam International last month said Germany must take the lead on fulfilling promises to Africa during its presidency of the group of industrialised nations.

Europe’s biggest economy ranks 12th in an Oxfam league table of aid-to-gross national income ratios in 22 of the world’s richest nations.

A further “replenishment” conference for the G8’s Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will be held in Germany in September, Wieczorek-Zeul said, designed to assemble the cash pledged to fight disease in developing countries.

In addition to aid, more needed to be done to encourage sustainable investment in Africa. For example, women needed access to facilities such as micro-credit in order to help them start their own businesses.

“Part of this is also to ensure that initiatives to increase transparency in oil-producing nations are supported so that money is indeed used to fight poverty,” she said.