Fatal Indifference: The G8, Africa and Global Health

The commitments of three recent G8 summits (1999-2001) are reviewed, analyzed, and critiqued in this report card on G8 actions. The most powerful political force behind multilateral institutions and contemporary globalization, the G8 group of industrialized countries sets policies based on a market-oriented development model in such areas as debt relief, foreign aid, trade, global health research, and investment that shape the development possibilities in poor countries but often do not serve their best interests, according to this analysis. Special attention is paid to the G8's treatment of Africa, a continent that has been exposed to market liberalization and structural adjustment policies that have not reaped benefits for African people.

"A carefully documented condemnation of the illusion of Northern donor aid and free trade as Africa's saviors. In the field of health, a profound critique of the G8 countries, and their African elite allies, is more urgent than ever. I anticipate that African civil society and their partners will take forward this analysis into successful advocacy and activism—as is already happening on AIDS medicines, reparations, and the fight against privatization." —Patrick Bond, professor, University of the Witwatersrand

Ronald Labonte is a director of the Saskatchewan population health and evaluation research unit at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina. Ted Schrecker is a professional research associate. David Sanders is a pediatrician and the founding director of the School of Public Health at University of the Western Cape. Wilma Meeus is a pediatrician for the Zambian health ministry.