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Fact Sheet: Development and Africa
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 8, 2008

Fact Sheet: Development and Africa

ÿÿWhite House News

ÿÿÿÿÿ G8 Summit 2008

"At recent Summits, G-8 countries have made pledges to help developing
nations address challenges, from health care to education, to corruption.
Now we need to show the world that the G-8 can be accountable for its
promises and deliver results."

President George W. Bush, July 2, 2008

Leaders of the Group of 8 Industrialized Nations Discussed Development in
Africa at the G-8 Summit in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan. President Bush
reiterated his call for G-8 accountability, and G-8 nations have released
reports on health and anticorruption to demonstrate progress toward
fulfilling past G-8 commitments. When updated, these reports will provide a
vital tool for analyzing G-8 accountability for future Summits. The United
States will continue to partner with African leaders, providing support to
them as they develop solutions to fight diseases, increase educational
opportunities, support growing democracies, facilitate private sector
growth, increase foreign investment, and address the problem of rising
prices of food around the world. Additionally, G-8 leaders committed to
realistic, measurable commitments on health worker training, neglected
tropical diseases, and long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets.

The G-8 pledged to fulfill over the next five years its commitment to
provide at least $60 billion to fight infectious diseases and released an
accountability report and charts to demonstrate how G-8 members are meeting
past commitments.

At last year's G-8 Summit in Heiligendamm, the United States challenged G-8
partners to match the assistance the United States provides through the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's
Malaria Initiative (PMI).
  þ President Bush is working with Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR. The
    five-year, $30 billion proposal builds on the initial commitment to
    provide treatment to 2.5 million people, prevent 12 million new
    infections, and provide care for 12 million people, including 5 million
    orphans and vulnerable children.
  þ The G-8 agreed to match the President's proposal, so that together our
    nations will provide treatment to 5 million people, prevent 24 million
    new infections, and provide care for 24 million people, including 10
    million orphans and vulnerable children.
  þ PEPFAR has provided $18.8 billion since 2003 and supported treatment
    for nearly 1.7 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to
    funding bilateral programs, the United States through PEPFAR has
    provided more than $2.5 billion to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS,
    tuberculosis, and malaria.
  þ The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), which was announced in 2005,
    has committed to provide $1.2 billion over five years to reduce
    malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 high-burden African
    countries. In 2007, the second year of implementation, it is estimated
    that more than 25 million people have benefitted from PMI
    interventions.
  þ In Heiligendamm, the G-8 agreed to match the PMI targets, so that
    together we will work to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in
    the 30 highest malaria prevalence countries in Africa.
  þ Malaria is a preventable, treatable disease that kills approximately
    one million people every year. More than 80 percent of malaria deaths
    occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.

G-8 leaders discussed new health initiatives to train health workers, to
fight neglected tropical diseases, and to provide 100 million bed nets.

G-8 Leaders announced they will work toward increasing health workforce
coverage toward the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 2.3 health
workers per 1,000 people, initially in partnership with the countries where
they are currently engaged and that are experiencing a critical shortage of
health workers.
  þ One obstacle to achieving health care goals in Africa is the lack of
    trained health care workers. By partnering with African countries in
    developing a strong health workforce, we will be better able to fight
    diseases, support stronger health systems, and save more lives.
  þ President Bush and Prime Minister Brown announced their intention in
    April to work together and with other partners to increase the number
    of health workers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Zambia. Through
    PEPFAR, the United States will invest at least $1.2 billion over five
    years in these four countries for health workforce development.

The G-8 joined the United States in the initiative to combat neglected
tropical diseases (NTDs) announced by President Bush during his trip to
Africa in February. Specifically, Leaders committed to work to support the
control or elimination of neglected tropical diseases, so that the G-8 may
be able to reach at least 75 percent of the people affected by certain
major NTDs in the most affected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. With sustained action for 3-5 years, this will enable a very
significant reduction of the current burden.
  þ Approximately one billion people, mostly in the developing world,
    suffer from one or more NTDs; seven of these diseases can be controlled
    or eliminated through mass drug administration.
  þ The United States will provide a total of $350 million over five years
    to target seven major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and provide
    treatment for more than 300 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin
    America.

As part of fulfilling past commitments on malaria, leaders agreed to
continue to expand access to long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, with a
goal of providing 100 million nets by 2010 through bilateral and
multilateral assistance, in partnership with other stakeholders.

The United States is on track to meet its goal of doubling assistance to
Sub-Saharan Africa.
  þ At the Gleneagles G-8 Summit in 2005, President Bush announced that the
    United States would double assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa between
    2004 and 2010 to $8.7 billion. The President's FY 2009 budget request,
    combined with past budgets and program implementation, will ensure that
    this goal is met.

The G-8 committed to work toward the goal of doubling production of key
food staples in African countries meeting Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) criteria in five to ten years in a
sustainable manner, with particular emphasis on fostering smallholder
agriculture and inclusive rural growth.
  þ In May 2008, President Bush announced his request to Congress for an
    additional $770 million in funding for food aid and agriculture
    development programs, bringing to nearly $1 billion the total
    additional USG funds announced since mid-April to address rising food
    prices.
  þ With other food security assistance programs already in place, the
    United States is projected to spend at least $5 billion to fight global
    hunger over the two-year period of FY 2008-FY 2009. The United States
    is the largest provider of food aid in the world and provided
    approximately 50 percent of world food aid during 2001-2006.
  þ The United States is pursuing an integrated, three-pronged strategy to
    combat the food price crisis through short- and long-term actions that:
     1. Target countries made vulnerable by rising food prices;
     2. Provide assistance to countries capable of rapidly increasing
        staple food production; and
     3. Support trade liberalization and increasing the use of advanced
        agricultural technologies.
  þ The United States is coordinating these efforts with the international
    community, including the UN, G-8, World Bank, and other stakeholders.

The G-8 agreed that support for good governance, including anticorruption
measures, is essential to private sector-led economic growth and achieving
the goals of the Millennium Declaration.
  þ Democracy is growing on the continent of Africa; in the past four years
    alone, there have been more than 50 democratic elections in Africa.
  þ The United States, through the Millennium Challenge Account, is
    offering financial support to developing nations that have shown a
    commitment to fight corruption, govern justly, open their economies,
    and invest in the health and education of their people.
  þ MCA has signed compacts with nine African countries totaling nearly
    $3.8 billion.
  þ In FY 2006, U.S. support for anti-corruption activities included $8
    million in bilateral and regional programs. In addition, approximately
    $80 million in anti-corruption funding is being provided through the
    Millennium Challenge Corporation's threshold country programs in five
    countries: Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
  þ At U.S. urging, the G-8 has produced an accountability report on
    anticorruption and agreed to update it annually.

The G-8 Leaders remain committed to Education For All and support the
efforts of the Fast Track Initiative for universal primary education.
  þ The Africa Education Initiative (AEI), launched by President Bush in
    2001, has committed to provide $600 million over eight years to
    increase access to quality basic education. By 2010, AEI will have
    distributed more than 15 million text books, trained nearly one million
    teachers, and provided 550,000 scholarships for young women.
  þ The President's Expanded Education for the World's Poorest Children
    Initiative committed an additional $525 million over five years and
    will provide over four million children with access to quality basic
    education in six target countries, four of which -- Ethiopia, Ghana,
    Liberia, and Mali _ are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

G-8 Leaders are focused on maintaining open trade and investment policies.
  þ The African Financial Sector Initiative (AFSI) is providing technical
    assistance and mobilizing capital to help African nations strengthen
    their financial markets
  þ The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is expected to mobilize
    nearly $2 billion in privately-managed investment funds to invest in
    Africa and help develop the continent's capital markets.
  þ Currently, OPIC is supporting 14 investment funds in Africa, including
    those mentioned above, representing $1 billion in commitments to
    leverage as much as $4 billion of new investment in the region.
  þ The Treasury Department's Office of Technical Assistance is supporting
    the development of domestic debt markets in Africa through the
    provision of up to ten resident advisors over the FY 2008-2010 period.
  þ The United States provided $505 million in trade-related assistance in
    FY 2007, a 26 percent increase over FY 2006 and a 150 percent increase
    over FY 2005.
  þ Currently, 41 of 48 sub-Saharan African countries are eligible for
    benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Total
    two-way trade between the United States and eligible sub-Saharan
    African economies increased from $28 billion in 2001 to $82 billion in
    2007.
  þ Thanks in part to AGOA, more than 98 percent of U.S. imports from
    AGOA-eligible countries receive duty-free treatment.
  þ The Africa Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI) was launched in
    2006 to provide $200 million over five years to support increased trade
    and investment in Africa.

Peace and security in Africa are fundamental to its sustainable
development. Therefore, the United States is committed to partner with
African Leaders to support their efforts to end conflicts, strengthen
democracy, and support peace.
  þ Since FY 2005, the United States has directly trained more than 40,000
    African peacekeepers in 21 countries. Approximately 80 percent of these
    U.S. trained peacekeepers have been deployed in AU and UN missions,
    both inside and outside of Africa.

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