Slashing aid to emerging economies undercuts HIV fight, activists warn

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http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/24/slashing-aid-emerging-economies-undercuts-aids-hiv-fight-activists-warn

Withdrawing support when countries graduate from low- to middle-income status could undermine sustainable development goals, say campaigners

Slashing aid to emerging economies undercuts HIV fight, activists warn
Sam Jones
Thursday 24 March 2016 12.16 EDT

The abrupt withdrawal of international aid money from countries that graduate to middle-income status is hindering the fight against HIV and Aids, leaving already marginalised groups even more vulnerable, and could undermine the delivery of the sustainable development goals, campaigners have warned.

Since 1994, the number of low-income countries – in which the average income is $1,045 (£740) or less – has more than halved, falling from 64 to 31. Countries in the middle-income category, where average income is anything between $1,046 and $12,736, now include Nigeria, India, Bangladesh and Kenya.

The reclassification of such countries by the World Bank has led some international donors to pull their official development assistance (ODA) from middle-income countries as they seek instead to alleviate poverty in low-income countries.

Mike Podmore, the director of the StopAids network, said that such precipitous actions could have a severe impact on programmes in middle-income countries, which are home to 5 billion of the world’s 7 billion people – and 73% of its poor people.