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DATA Report 2006: Tracking G8 Pledges to Africa

When Live 8 took place last year, bloggers from all over the world commented on the actual need, viability, and subtext behind the concept. Technorati designed a separate webpage with badges that tallied how many bloggers were writing about Live 8. Global Voices provided African bloggers’ viewpoints and general skepticism about the concert series.
One year later, DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) published its annual report, providing a country-by-country analysis of the G8’s commitment in debt relief, AIDS treatment and prevention, development assistance and trade. Although links can be found at some blogs, like AfriGadget, there is considerably less commentary on the DATA report from the general blogging community. Interested bloggers and readers can find the full report, conclusions and recommendations at the DATA Report site.
Excerpts from the DATA Report 2006 press release:
On Debt: “There is good news on debt cancellation - the G8 are on track to meet their committments. 19 of the world’s poorest countries, 14 of them in Africa, have already had their multilateral debts cancelled with immediate and tangible benefits with a total of 44 ultimately eligible.”
“In Zambia, user fees have been abolished for basic healthcare and the newly freed up resources are being used to pay thousands more doctors, nurses and teachers.”
On Trade: “On getting a world trade deal that is good for African development, the G8 are not just off track – they’ve stepped backwards.”
On Development Assistance: “The picture presented by donors through their own aid reporting is incredibly murky – routine inflation of the figures by counting debt relief makes it hard for the true trend to be identified.”
On AIDS: “…keeping the G8 pledge of near-universal access to treatment by 2010 will require doubling the rate of uptake from 355,000 to 638,000 more per year. Donors are currently spending only half of what is needed to achieve this, and there is not nearly enough emphasis on prevention.”

09 August 2006 | 07.51am (CEST) | posted by Marie | |
TAGS Politics & Governance | Economic Development & Globalization | Ethical Values & Responsibility | Quality of Life & Prosperity | Media & Information

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