Combating extreme poverty and disease

Eight countries can save children’s lives | What we ask the G8 to do
Some 26,000 children perish every day | The Millennium Development Goals
The 2005 G8 commitment | Successes so far | Learn more and get involved

Eight countries that can save children's lives

At the 2005 G8 summit — the annual meeting of leaders from the world's wealthiest countries — the G8 made a historic commitment to fight extreme global poverty and disease. World Vision, the ONE Campaign, and several other organizations played a pivotal role in prompting the G8 to make this unprecedented pledge.

The G8, or "group of eight," represents the most powerful governments in the world — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and the United States. The G8 leaders meet annually to discuss major global issues and make plans and commitments to address them. This summer, the summit took place in La Maddalena, Italy. Back to top What we ask the G8 to do World Vision calls on the G8 to keep the promises they made in 2005 to flight global poverty and AIDS and do their fair share to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

The 2009 G8 summit Why the G8 matters to children PDF, 426 KB, 12 pages

If the G8 countries keep the financial commitments that they have already made, millions of lives will be saved. They are currently not on track to meet their goals.

World Vision's 2009 G8 summit policy briefing, "Why the G8 matters to children" (PDF, 426 KB, 12 pages), outlines the specific actions that World Vision asks the G8 to take to keep the promises made at past summits and maintain the commitment to reduce to preventable childhood deaths, especially those brought on by hunger, malnutrition, AIDS, and malaria.

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Some 24,000 children perish every day

Fulfilling the G8 promises will truly change lives.

The tragic truth is that more than 24,000 children under the age of 5 die every day due to preventable poverty, disease, and hunger. In 2006 alone, AIDS killed an estimated 380,000 children under the age of 15.

These children are relying on the G8 leaders to keep their promises.

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The Millennium Development Goals

Established at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV and AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 — are a set of measurable targets for combating global challenges such as poverty, hunger, and disease.

Though all of the MDGs are crucial, as a child-focused organization, World Vision takes special interest in the pursuit of meeting goals 1, 4, 5, and 6.

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality;
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health;
• Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

Successfully reaching the goals will require a concerted effort on the part of all developed and developing countries.

Learn more about each MDG and what World Vision is doing to help achieve them.

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The 2005 G8 commitment

At the 2005 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 leaders committed to:

• Cancel the debts owed by 35 of the world’s poorest countries to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and African Development Fund;
• Increase aid to poor countries by $50 billion by 2010, with half of the aid targeting Africa;
• Increase humanitarian aid and support to peacekeeping and arms control;
• Help create a world trade deal that favors poor nations;
• Ensure universal access to AIDS prevention, treatment, and care by 2010.

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Successes so far

There have already been some noteworthy advancements toward meeting the goals set at the 2005 meeting.

For instance, President Bush has made significant commitments on behalf of the United States to address global poverty and disease. In 2003, through the Global AIDS, TB and Malaria Bill, Congress funded the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest international health initiative dedicated to a specific disease now representing a commitment of approximately $6 billion per year for AIDS prevention, treatment, and care.

The results are encouraging. For instance, PEPFAR-funded programs have:

• Supported mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention services for women during more than 10 million pregnancies (as of September 2007);
• Supported prevention of an estimated 157,000 infant infections (as of September 2007);
• Supported community outreach activities to nearly 61.5 million people to prevent sexual transmission (as of September 2006);
• Supported training or retraining of nearly 520,000 people in prevention services (as of September 2006).

At the 2009 summit, the G8 committed to a food security initiative promising $20 billion over three years to tackle global hunger. The Obama administration pledged $3.5 billion in U.S. aid for food security. This initiative is a bold move toward a more holistic approach to ending global hunger, if these countries match their promises with action.

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Learn more

• Review World Vision's 2009 G8 summit policy briefing, "Why the G8 matters to children" (PDF).
• Learn more about the Millennium Development Goals.
• Download the full report, "Last Chance: Child Health and the Millennium Development Goals" (PDF).

Get involved

• Pray that our legislators would make wise decision that help bring relief to those suffering from extreme poverty and disease.
• Donate. Join World Vision in the fight against extreme global poverty and disease. Give a gift to provide life-saving food, water, medical care, and more to children and families.