On April 6, members of AHF’s advocacy team spoke at the Civil Society Hearing on AIDS, a day of interactive panel discussions at the United Nations in New York. Representatives from AHF stressed the need to scale up global AIDS funding, stop using World Bank country classifications to determine foreign assistance eligibility (Raise the MIC) and consider the detrimental impact of trade agreements on access to affordable medicines.
The AHF delegation included Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy from Los Angeles, John Hassell, Regional Director from Washington, DC, and Dr. Miguel Pedrola, Latin America Deputy Bureau Chief from Argentina.
The hearing was organized by UNAIDS in preparation for the High Level Meeting on AIDS (HLM) to be held in June. Attending members of civil society were given the opportunity to provide input for the new Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, the final draft of which will be ratified by UN member states at the HLM.
View the video below:
AHF joins a large coalition of advocates pressing the World Bank to change outdated country classifications and strengthen international aid. Co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates recently released an article in the Wall Street Journal in which he called on the World Bank to Raise the MIC:
“Over time, however, a new map of poverty has emerged. Today, more than 70% of the world’s poorest people—those living on less than $1.90 per day—live in countries defined as middle income, according to the World Bank. Once countries cross the threshold from low-income to middle-income status, the grants and below-market loans that have helped them rise often come to an end. Countries with huge pockets of poverty like Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Ghana and Vietnam could lose as much as 40% of their development assistance in the next few years, a study sponsored by our foundation found.”
Read the full article here.