ONE Welcomes G8 Foreign Ministers’ Continuing Support for Effective Global Health, Food Security and Nutrition Programs
Washington, D.C.— Michael Elliott, President and CEO of ONE, issued the following reaction to the G8’s Foreign Ministers’ communiqué:
“ONE is pleased that the G8 reaffirmed their commitment to smart and effective global health, agriculture and nutrition plans at this week’s Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Washington, D.C. World leaders can and should do more to get behind tested and affordable programs that will help break the cycle of preventable disease, malnutrition and poverty.
“ONE applauds the G8 Ministers’ renewed support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, an organization that saves more than 100,000 lives every month and is undergoing a series of important reforms to further improve its efficiency. We agree wholeheartedly that donors must fulfill their pledges and new donors should support the Fund’s mission.
“ONE also welcomes the G8’s support for country-led efforts to assure sustainable food security and nutrition. But a greater sense of urgency and ambition is needed. Just this week, ONE released a new report (Food. Farming. Future.) that shows 50 million people could be lifted out of extreme poverty and 15 million children could be saved from chronic malnutrition if world leaders take action to break the cycle of poverty and hunger by investing in country-owned agriculture and nutrition plans in 30 of the world’s poorest countries.
“Such development goals will not happen by magic. If the global community wants to reach major health milestones by 2015—the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the end of malaria deaths, and even the beginning of the end of AIDS—then donors, the private sector, and developing country governments must step up and reinvest in the Global Fund. Crucially, the G8 next month needs to be ambitious in its targets for poverty and malnutrition reduction through investment in local agriculture and nutrition plans. We have a chance this year to develop a new global framework for action on food security, nutrition and hunger, and we should take it.”