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Africa's AIDS Orphans Need Rich Countries' Help
LONDON, May 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The British charity organization Christian Aid has called on the U.K. government and other rich governments to double the amount of money they give to help fight AIDS in Africa, news agencies reported.
In a report, the charity, which stated that millions of children have been orphaned by AIDS, urged the U.K. government to increase spending on the AIDS crisis in developing countries and criticized it for spending more on conferences and hotel bills.
"The U.K. is committed to reducing world poverty - but there is no way we can meet these targets without tackling HIV and AIDS," Mark Curtis, Christian Aid's head of policy, said.
The report said that more than 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa, equivalent to the U.K.'s entire child population, have been orphaned by AIDS.
It said that by 2010, this number would rise to 43 million, saying that it needs support from the U.K. and other rich countries to tackle the crisis effectively.
The report criticized Britain for promising the United Nations 30 years ago that it would increase overall aid to 0.7% of its national earnings, but it is still only at the 0.311% mark, which the report labels "pitifully inadequate".
"A good, generous country looks beyond its borders to transform the world in which we live. I believe its money well spent and a challenge to us all," the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said, after stating that conditions in Africa are getting worse, the BBC reported.
The disease killed more than two million people in Africa last year, and 25.3 million are living with HIV or AIDS presently, the report said. It added that in sub-Saharan Africa, 8.5% of the population has the virus, compared to 0.1% in Britain.
The report added that as adults, the orphans would not be equipped to drive the economic motor of Africa, making the struggle for development on the continent more difficult.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have stated that developed countries should be contributing 0.7% of their GNP (Gross National Product) by 2010, CNN reported.
Joseph Chamie, director of the U.N.'s population division, told CNN that even if a cure for AIDS was found, there will still be millions dying of the disease because of the difficulties in delivering vaccines and drugs in underdeveloped countries.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for International Development at Harvard, said rich countries like the United States were failing to rise to the challenge of AIDS, providing just $78 million a year for it, out of a $10 trillion economy.
"You can't fight the greatest pandemic for years without resources," Sachs said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is to travel to four African countries including Mali, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda to "underscore [Washington's] commitment to Africa" and speak with leaders there about HIV/AIDS and conflict resolution, AFP reported.
Moreover, he said that he would bring to Africa methods to express Washington's support for Africa on AIDS.
"To fulfill my vision we have to help Africa in a number of ways," Powell said, counting his plans for the trip.
But he qualified aid the African countries based on their politics.
"I think we have to invest in those countries in Africa that have committed themselves to freedom and democracy and the concept of justice and not to cooperate ... and work with those nations that are still trapped in dictatorships and totalitarian regimes that are corrupt and exploiting their people," Powell said.
The Christian Aid report, however, added, "An entire generation is growing up without parents, without teachers, without a future. Words are not enough. It is time for rich-country governments to stump up or shut up," the BBC quoted Curtis as saying.
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