Washington, D.C. – As the world’s finance ministers gather for meetings in Washington this week of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the ONE Campaign urged them to prevent the global economic fears from exacerbating the food and fuel crises facing developing nations.

“Even with significant global economic challenges, we can’t ignore our real need to do the necessary and effective things that help us to achieve a safer and better world.  If we aren’t careful, the ripple effects of the global economic crisis could become rip tides for the world’s poorest nations,” said Oliver Buston, ONE’s European Director, who is in Washington, D.C., for the week’s meetings.  “We must avoid a knee-jerk reaction to pull back from building on successes in the poorest nations as advanced countries search for solutions to the economic crisis.”

ONE’s position was echoed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who, in remarks on Thursday, urged advanced economies not to use the economic crisis as an excuse to back away from fulfilling commitments to Africa and other developing economies.

“Countries’ budgets are strained, so it is difficult to deliver even when commitment has been made in the past.  Advanced countries shouldn’t respond to the crisis by cutting aid to the poorest, most vulnerable countries,” Strauss-Kahn said.

“The response to the economic crisis must do more than help the stock markets in New York, London, and Tokyo, as important as that is.  The response must include the food markets in Haiti, the farmers in Ethiopia, and the health clinics in Rwanda,” Buston added.  “Advanced nations should build new partnerships with developing nations, where the foundation for economic opportunity and long-term benefits have real potential.”

“Advanced economies should expand innovative approaches to finance assistance and strengthen approaches which have proved affordable and effective to help meet their commitments to tackle global poverty,” Buston added.

ONE has called on the European Union, for instance, to move swiftly to endorse the use of €1 billion, primarily from unused farm subsidy funds, to provide support for agricultural development in poor countries.  And this must be additional to current aid flows.  Carbon finance for development is another strong option that deserves consideration.

The recent economic track record of African countries underscores the opportunity that exists for expanded partnerships between advanced and emerging economies. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 18 countries whose economic growth has been at an average of 5.5 percent each year for the past decade.  One-third of all Africans live in these countries. These countries’ growth rates reflect the powerful potential of improved governance and leadership combined with aid, debt cancellation, improved trade policies, and smart investments.

Assistance to these countries increased 63 percent in the five years since the Millennium Goals were agreed. And, though poverty is still rampant, real change is taking place.  These countries put almost 14 million more children in primary school between 1999 and 2005; 13 of these countries have increased the percentage of their people with access to clean water; access to HIV medicines and anti-malaria bed nets have increased, and mortality rates for children under age five have dropped in 13 of these countries.

“There has been solid progress on critical issues in addressing health and poverty, especially in Africa.  This is a time to scale up that progress, not to dismantle it.  Advanced nations need to recognize the benefits that exist for their own economies if they collaboratively address the gaps that continue to hold back emerging nations,” Buston said.

One of the biggest successes has been in the effort to stop the spread of malaria.  In Rwanda and Ethiopia, for instance, malaria deaths have dropped by more than 50 percent.  The Global Fund alone has distributed 59 million insecticide treated malaria bed nets worldwide; yet, it is estimated that 250 million bed nets are needed to cover Africa alone effectively as well as more widespread use of insecticides and therapies for treatment for malaria

In 2002, only 50,000 African people living with HIV/AIDS were on lifesaving medications; today, 2.1 million Africans are on the drugs and nearly 3 million people globally.  However, 4.9 million more African people and 1.8 million more globally still need these medicines – and every day 6,800 people are infected with HIV/AIDS around the world.

The number of children dying from preventable treatable illnesses has been reduced from 12.7 million to 9.2 million per year since 1990.  While the lives of 10,000 children are being saved each day, more than 25,000 children lose their lives to causes related to extreme poverty daily.

In education, between 1999 and 2005, 29 million more children are in school in Africa, 41 million more globally.  Yet, around the world, there are still 72 million children, the majority (57%) of whom are girls, who have yet to walk through a school house door.

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