LONDON, June 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Tuesday, as he prepared to fly to a Group of Eight (G8) summit with the issue top of the agenda, that Britain would increase annual aid for Africa to one billion pounds within four years, Downing Street said, news agencies reported.

The G8 includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Blair told aid organization officials that he intended to increase bilateral aid to the continent to one billion pounds (1.55 billion euros, 1.5 billion dollars) by 2006 from the present 632 million pounds, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

British officials said the aid increase would focus on health and education projects and would be given in the context of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

NEPAD is an African initiative that calls for massive investment into the continent and for greater dedication to democracy and good governing.

Blair and Canadian counterpart Jean Chretien are expected to push hard for NEPAD support from the U.S. and other leading countries at this week's G8 summit in Canada.

Germany on Tuesday also pledged some 110 million euros (106.7 million dollars) over two years to NEPAD.

"We are supporting African efforts, above all in the areas of crisis prevention, economic growth, education and health care," Overseas Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in a statement.

The Group of Eight industrialized nations is to sign off on a plan for Africa at their summit in Kananaskis, Canada this week within the framework of NEPAD.

Wieczorek-Zeul said the NEPAD initiative was notable by showing African willingness to be "self-critical" and accept more responsibility for its own development.

Meanwhile, the UN agency dealing with AIDS pandemic UNAIDS said on Tuesday that AIDS and HIV infection are wreaking havoc on Africa's fragile economy, stifling growth and halving labor productivity in some countries.

In data released on the eve of G8 summit UNAIDS estimated that the rate of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa had fallen by up to four percent because of the disease.

Estimated average economic growth for sub-Saharan Africa, excluding Nigeria and South Africa, was 3.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2001, according to the UN.

"The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS is rolling back decades of development progress in Africa," Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said in a statement.

"Every element of African society -- from teachers to soldiers to farmers -- is under attack by AIDS," he added.

More than 28 million Africans are estimated to be living with the immune deficiency disease, and nearly one-third of adults have been infected in some areas.

In another development, about 30 police deployed to safeguard the G8 meeting to open later this week have fallen ill, perhaps from food poisoning, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday in a statement, reported AFP.

Three of the officers were taken to the Foothills General Hospital in Calgary for intravenous treatment, RCMP spokesman Mike Gaudet told AFP.

An earlier police statement said that four officers had been hospitalized. Of the three hospitalized officers, one remained in hospital Monday.

"The condition of affected members is improving quickly," said the statement, referring to the hospitalized officers as well as those treated at the temporary police headquarters.

Violent protests at G8 summits which culminated in the death last year of a protester in Genoa, Italy, prompted the security clampdown in Canada, reported BBC’s online news service.

The Canadian police have mounted one of their most intensive security operations, with an estimated 2,800 employed to keep the G8 delegates isolated from the protesters, it said.

Activists gathering for the summit are angry that the leaders will be making decisions without any input from them.