Friday, 29 November, 2002

December 1 is World Aids Day. In Africa that day, like every other, 6,500 men, women and children will die of AIDS and another 9,500 Africans will be infected with the disease. Jubilee Australia is calling on the Australian government to use its allocated positions within the IMF and World Bank to advocate for immediate debt cancellation for those countries severely impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

More resources are desperately needed to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic and debt cancellation is the first step to releasing funds to combat the spread of this killer disease. Currently, African countries pay out more than $US14 billion each year in debt service.

According to Jubilee Australia’s Father Brian Gore, poor countries’ debts have already been paid many times over and they are still paying the interest. “They are unjust debts, many made to corrupt leaders without checks or balances by the lenders. The poor are still paying off these debts out of their public health care and education,” said Father Gore.

Zambia, where 20 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV, spends $76 million on its health budget and $89 million on debt service to the IMF and World Bank.

Due to pressure from the international Jubilee Campaign, a portion of the debt is expected to be cancelled. The richest countries have promised some debt cancellation, and newly released funds are already helping to fight HIV/AIDS. Mali, Mozambique and Senegal are using savings from debt relief to increase their spending on HIV/AIDS prevention in order to stop the spread of the deadly pandemic.

However, to qualify for debt relief countries must adhere to IMF/World Bank structural adjustment policies, many of which include charging the poorest people extra fees for basic healthcare and education. These fees only take AIDS prevention and treatment further out of the reach of the people who need it most.

Amanda Jackson, Jubilee Australia’s National Coordinator says, “Long-term under-funding in health and education, mainly due to the servicing of debt and structural adjustment problems has exacerbated in the spread of AIDS in Africa reaching crisis point.”

Furthermore, Jubilee Australia calls on the Australian Government to increase its aid budget from 0.27% to 0.7% of GDP as recommended by the United Nations..

For more information about Jubilee Australia visit: http://www.jubileeaustralia.org

For more information on debt and the aids crisis visit: http://www.stopglobalaids.org

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