Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said today, "We are gathered at the Embassies of these rich and powerful countries to call for 100% debt cancellation without harmful conditions for impoverished countries in Africa and throughout the global South. The G-7 have stalled long enough. These debts are illegitimate, they are costing thousands of lives each day, and they must be canceled now!"

"It is outrageous that countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America still spend more on debt repayments each year than they can spend on health care, education or the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Neil Watkins, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network. "In recent months, the G-7 have committed to support 'as much as 100% multilateral debt relief,' but we visiting G-7 embassies today to demand action on 100% debt cancellation without harmful conditions by the time the World Bank and IMF meet next month."

In addition to demanding debt relief, the protestors deliver a message about the Global AIDS Fund and financing the fight against AIDS. Paul Davis of Health GAP states, "as we watch the body count rise, the richest nations in the world pinch pennies and bankrupt the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. Japan has pledged a mere one third of its fair share contribution to the Global AIDS Fund for FY 2005, while Germany has paid less than one sixth of its equitable contribution." The Global Fund is the only multilateral funding organization that provides comprehensive, science-based prevention and reliable, cost-effective treatment. Davis continues, "We have seen G8 meeting after meeting where the leaders talk about what a travesty AIDS is and how it is unconscionable to ignore a pandemic. It has been three years since the Global AIDS Fund was launched and in those three years contributions have lagged behind grand words while the AIDS pandemic explodes. If the G8 doesn't change its tune, we are looking at the decimation of entire continents."

"The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) believes that the voice of health professionals is crucial to building an effective response to the greatest health crisis of our time," said Casey KirkHart, DO, AMSA Jack Rutledge Fellow on Eliminating Health Disparities. "World governments must act now to provide the resources this battle requires. Physicians and other health professionals have the moral and professional obligation to lead the way."

Today's protests were timed to coincided with a donors' meeting on funding for the Global Fund, being held this week in Stockholm, Sweden. While groups continue to emphasize the important work being done by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria in 127 countries worldwide, it remains underfunded and in desperate need of new contributions in order to be able to renew existing grants this year and issue new grants in the future. The protests also come one month before G-7 Finance Ministers and the IMF and World Bank are to meet in Washington, DC with debt cancellation for impoverished nations on their agenda.

Visit www.globaltreatmenetaccess.org for further information, materials and photographs.

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