World leaders are set to drop their aid promise to Africa made at Gleneagles in 2005, just as millions of children face increasing hunger caused by the rocketing cost of food, warned today.

Friday, 4 July 2008

Leaked documents show G8 leaders plan to drop their historic targets agreed for increased aid when they meet in Japan next week. Save the Children UK warned this would "betray the hopes of a generation of children" who are becoming malnourished in even greater numbers as their families are forced deeper into poverty.

According to the World Bank, the cost of living has risen by 83 per cent since the G8 leaders made their pledge at Gleneagles three years ago. Save the Children says the G8 must wake up to the current emergency threatening the lives of millions of children and take swift action.

Adrian Lovett, director of campaigns at Save the Children UK said: "If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it is going the right way about it. The food crisis is an emergency and the G8 must treat it as that. Going back on aid promises now is like cutting emergency assistance in the aftermath of the Tsunami. The G8 should be increasing aid spent on malnourished children in light of the rising price of food, not cutting back."

Adrian Lovett continued: "World Bank figures show up to 105 million people have been pushed into absolute poverty as a direct result of rising food prices. Seven years of progress have been reversed. Malnutrition is responsible for one-third of the ten million children's lives lost every year. Without decisive action, the food crisis will push millions more children to the edge of survival."

Save the Children UK is calling on the G8 to stick to its Gleneagles promise to commit an extra $25 billion for Africa ($50 billion worldwide) by 2010. In addition, further measures are needed due to the current crisis including:

- support and fund the UN Task Force on Global Food Security Crisis and ensure donors address nutrition issues as well as food security. This is an opportunity to develop proposals for tackling the international system for dealing with malnutrition, described in a recent Lancet series as 'dysfunctional and fragmented'.
- support the development and expansion of social protection programmes, focused on the needs of the poorest and most food insecure families.
- a swift response to the increased humanitarian needs arising from increases in food prices and droughts in Ethiopia and in the West Africa Sahel region. Save the Children is appealing for US$20 million to help around 900,000 people, including 325,000 children, who are bearing the brunt of the food crisis in Ethiopia.
- Save the Children teams around the world are already experiencing the impact of the rising food prices directly and have expanded its programme to work with the increasing number of malnourished children.

To see how we are responding to the Ethiopia food crisis, please see here.