G8 Accused of Failing Africa Over Aids Funds

UN special envoy Stephen Lewis yesterday accused the G8 countries of betraying Africa by their failure to find the money to fulfil their Gleneagles promise on the treatment, care and prevention of Aids.

In a speech at the international Aids conference in Toronto, Mr Lewis said that African governments attempting to treat their citizens were struggling with the cost and their chief fear was that the money from donor countries would dry up.

The G8 committed the rich world to fund universal access to drug treatment for Aids by 2010. "The promises made by the G8 at Gleneagles are unravelling - all of them," said Mr Lewis, a former Canadian ambassador to the UN. "The amount of money promised for Aids by 2010 will not be there. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are now admitting that publicly.

"The G8 is doing what it always does to Africa, which is to betray Africa as soon as the commitments are made."

The Global Fund for Aids, TB and Malaria, set up by the UN to provide the finance to developing world governments for treatment, had shown that 75% of the programmes it funded were operating well, which in development terms was remarkable, he said.

But the fund was $500m (£264m) short of the money it needs even for this year's grants. In total, the world is spending around $8.3bn on Aids this year, short of the UN estimate that $15bn is needed in 2006, rising to $22bn in 2008.

Various fundraising mechanisms were being tried, from Mr Brown's international financing facility to France's airline tax to Bono's Red campaign, which were all worthy but could not compensate for the lack of contributions from governments.

Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund, agreed its current assets of $9.5bn were "nothing like enough ... the financing gap remains very large".

He pleaded for sustainable funding. The time and effort of those at the fund were being spent in "arm-twisting, cajoling and bullying". People taking Aids drugs thanks to fund money had to remain on treatment for life. If the contributions dried up, they would die.