Washington, D.C.- The global anti-poverty  group ONE applauded a 26 percent increase in official development  assistance from the United States to sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 that was  reported in findings yesterday by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and  Development (OECD). ONE also stressed that recent actions by the U.S. Congress  threaten to reverse this progress, just as the global financial crisis hits the  poorest of the poor around the world.

Monday, the OECD’s Development  Assistance Committee (DAC) released its annual summary of aid-giving by member  countries in 2008. The preliminary figures found that  in 2008, the United States development investments in sub-Saharan Africa percent  rose to $7.75 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion over 2007.

“This  ‘smart power’ support for the world’s poorest people has helped prevent millions  of people from dying from diseases including AIDS and malaria, created economic  opportunities for  families and  provided the chance for millions of  children  to go to school for the first time. ONE applauds the United States for its  leadership in the fight against global poverty and preventable diseases,” said  Josh Lozman, Deputy Director of Policy at ONE.  “As the global economic crisis  now bears down on Africa, this leadership is needed today more than  ever.”

ONE expressed  concern that these recent gains could be undermined by budget proposals passed  last week by the U.S. House and Senate Budget Committees that cut support for  America’s global health and development initiatives.

The FY2010  budget blueprint passed by the Senate Budget Committee last week removed  approximately $4 billion from President Obama’s proposed FY2010 international  affairs budget, the portion of the budget that includes global poverty reduction  programs. The blueprint passed by the House Budget Committee last week cut  spending from FY2009 by $1.3 billion and removed approximately $5.3 billion from  the president’s request. These cuts suggest that innovative, successful programs  that support improved infrastructure , such as the Millennium Challenge  Corporation, or access to basic lifesaving medicines, such the President’s  Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), may not be fully funded in the next  fiscal year.

These  proposed cuts also come at a time when Africa is suffering from the economic  crisis, in the form of falling investment, exports and remittances from overseas  workers.

“Development  assistance is far from the only solution to Africa’s current challenges,” said  Lozman. “But it has a vital role to play in Africa, especially as trade and  other forms of finance are declining. Now is not the time for the United States  to abandon its commitments and reverse the recent gains it has supported in the  fight against global poverty .”

In  the past decade, American investments coupled with increases in the  effectiveness of aid and African leadership have led to some notable development  successes. More than two million more people are now on lifesaving  antiretroviral AIDS medicines, up from just 50,000 people in 2003. Millions more people are  surviving malaria because of investments in simple bed nets and medicines.  Some  34 million more children in the world’s  poorest and often most dangerous regions have been given the chance to go to  school for the first time in recent years.

ONE disaggregated the  DAC figures for all donor countries to sub-Saharan Africa in order to track  progress against specific commitments made at the Gleneagles G8 Summit in 2005.   ONE  found that development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa from all 23 DAC donors  rose in 2008 by 11 percent to $36.66 billion.

Below  are the G7 countries’ aid allocations to sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 compared to  2007 (measured in US$):

·         The  United States increased by $1.6 billion, or 26 percent, to $7.75 billion

·         Japan’s  increased by $938 million, or 56 percent, to $2.6  billion

·         Canada’s  increased by $656 million, or 52 percent, to $1.91  billion

·         Germany’s  increased by $513 million, or 15 percent, to $3.89  billion

·         The  United Kingdom increased by $105 million, or three percent, to $4.02  billion

·         Italy’s  decreased by $55 million, or negative four percent,  to $1.43  billion

·         France’s  declined by $610 million, or negative 15 percent, to $3.54 billion