June 25, 2010, TORONTO—The G8 leaders inch toward progress, yet leave millions of children out in the cold with the underfunded Muskoka Initiative for maternal and child health, says international Christian humanitarian organization World Vision, after heads of state meeting in Canada today announced a pledge of $5 billion over five years for maternal and child health programs globally.
"We came here hopeful, with the summit's leadership putting the world's children and mothers on the G8 agenda, and talk of committing new resources to save their lives," said Robert Zachritz, director of government relations for World Vision in the U.S. "But the Muskoka Initiative looks more like a down payment than an adequate investment, and won't reach as far as it must to stop needless deaths."
The announcement did not specify each country's contributions. Details are still needed to know whether the G8 funding announced today truly represents new resources or includes money taken away from other programs, shortchanging prior promises.
"We didn't hear today what the specific U.S, portion of the total is. But World Vision is concerned that even President Obama's current funding request for global health may falter in Congress because of the tight budget environment. At a minimum, Congress must step up to approve existing global health funding requests, taking shared responsibility for America's commitment to the world's most vulnerable children and mothers."
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For more on the Child Health Now campaign and World Vision at the G8 and G20 summits, see http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/about/emergency-presskit-G8-poverty