G8 2007

Please see below the letter signed by many in civil society urging G8 Finance Ministers to include within the 2007 G8 the agreement of a comprehensive long-term funding package that ensures the goal of Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support by 2010 is fully financed and delivered. This letter reflects an initiative of a joint civil G8 platform on AIDS and was facilitated by the World AIDS Campaign.

Below is a letter sent to Development Minister Wieczorek-Zeul regarding the G8's commitment to a comprehensive funding plan to achieve the 2010 universal access targets. The letter was sent to Minister Wieczorek-Zeul on 23 March 2007.

In July 2005, G8 leaders made a commitment to “develop and implement a package for a comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all people who need it by 2010.” This promise was made global at the UN World Summit in September 2005, and in June 2006 all UN member states endorsed a commitment to “universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010”.

Please see a letter below regarding universal access, which was sent to the G8 heads of state on June 2.

Tell G8 leaders to keep their promises on health and education. Add your voice to Archbishop Desmond Tutu's and help keep the promise. AIDS organisations will hand over the petition on June 5th, the eve of the summit.

Over 570 religious leaders and people of faith active in the response to HIV and AIDS have signed a letter to the heads of the G8 countries calling on them to take "critical steps" in fulfilling the promises they have made in the global response to HIV and AIDS.

Make Special Request on Behalf of Africa
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The bishops of seven of the world's leading industrial countries have written to G-8 leaders to urge them to take bold action on global poverty.

This year’s G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, was a time for civil society to hold governments accountable to the promises they made. While climate change and international security dominated media attention on the G8, AIDS campaigners focused mainly on the lack of AIDS financing, weak health systems, intellectual property rights and lack of accountability on AIDS promises

Despite civil society efforts, donors only pledged $9.7 billion yesterday to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at a fund-raising conference in Berlin. This was an increase over previous donations, but well short of the $15 billion to $18 billion the fund had hoped to raise.

At the Heiligendamm Summit the German Government announced a review on the G8's health promises. A draft of this report was presented at the GF Replenishment Meeting in September. The final version of this report, produced for the first is now available.