Slowing down aid commitments will be bad news for millions

By Marta Monteso - 6th April 2011

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Nobody needs to be told twice that we're supposed to be on the "final stretch" to realising the millennium development goals (MDGs).

We have made progress, but not enough, and we cannot afford to slow down now - the consequences would be irreversible. Poor and excluded children, women and men living in developing countries will pay a very high price for any cuts in aid.

In the past few years, overseas development aid (ODA) for health has hovered around seven to eight per cent of the EU's total ODA contribution, well below the 15 per cent required if the health MDGs are to be reached.

The World Health Organisation estimates that the funding shortfall for these three goals - on child mortality, maternal health and tackling HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases - is a staggering €14bn. We're already off track and we can't allow things to get any worse.

Today's ODA figures for 2010 released by the OECD are not entirely pessimistic, with several European governments demonstrating real commitment to the developing world. But the forecast for the next three years is worrying, with aid expected to grow at two per cent per year between 2011 and 2013 compared to the average eight per cent over the past three years.

Donors are facing an economic crisis, but politics remain politics: that is, it is all about prioritisation. Are richer governments ready to prioritise their human rights and development obligations? Or are they going to join others along the path of blind decision-making, reacting to a crisis that has been caused by those that are not poor and for which the poorest, in Europe and in the rest of the world, are paying?

We must hold our governments to account and build on everything we have achieved so far. Let's make sure our governments show they can be trusted with our votes and taxes.

Marta Monteso is project coordinator at Action for Global Health and ActionAid