The communiqué released on June 26 states:
“We reaffirm our strong support to significantly reduce the number of maternal, newborn and under five child deaths as a matter of immediate humanitarian and development concern. Action is required on all factors that affect the health of women and children. This includes addressing gender inequality, ensuring women’s and children’s rights and improving education for women and girls.”     Other highlights in the communiqué include:

FUNDING:
- G8 members committed to mobilize $5 billion of additional funding over the next five years.
- G8 leaders say they “anticipate” that, over the period 2010-2015 the Muskoka Initiative will mobilize significantly greater than $10 billion.

POLICY:
- G8 leaders will assist developing countries to i) prevent 1.3 million deaths of children under five years of age; ii) prevent 64,000 maternal deaths; and iii) enable access to modern methods of family planning by an additional 12 million couples. These results will be achieved cumulatively between 2010-2015.
- The Initiative includes an accountability framework and reporting.
- G8 leaders want this Initiative to give added momentum to the UN-led process to develop a Joint Action Plan to Improve the Health of Women and Children.
- The G8 will support country-led efforts to achieve this objective by making the third voluntary replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in October 2010 a success. And, they commit to promote integration of HIV and sexual and reproductive health, rights and services within the broader context of strengthening health systems.

Read full summary from Women Deliver

Keep the Promise

Civil society organisations from around the world have made a coordinated appeal to the Canadian government to help pressure the Group of Eight (G8) into fulfilling its aid commitments in the fight against Aids.

Five years ago, G8 countries agreed to set aside $130-billion for the fight against Aids, but recent estimates show members are on track to disburse only $107-billion.

The World Aids Campaign, a global coalition of civil society groups, is calling for the G8 to agree to a concrete, time-bound plan to achieve universal access to HIV and Aids prevention, treatment, care and support. It is also calling for commitments to replenish the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Read full article (Mail & Guardian Online)