NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) – Spending on foreign aid by
the world’s main emerging economies is growing rapidly at a time
when traditional donors in the West are struggling to keep up
funding for global health and development programmes, a health
charity said on Monday.
Some of the so-called BRICS countries, which include Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa, have traditionally
received aid, but fast economic growth over the past decade is
turning them into new donors to the world’s poor.
China and Brazil are leading the pack, increasing aid
spending by more than 20 percent from 2005 to 2010, the GIS
Initiatives global health charity said in a report.
India, Russia and South Africa’s aid budget increased by 11,
36 and 8 percent respectively over the same period.
“The BRICS are contributing significant new resources to
global health and development efforts,” said David Gold,
co-founder of GHS Initiatives.
“Just as importantly, they are establishing new models for
cooperation that challenge the way we think about foreign
assistance,” Gold said.
For example, Brazil’s 1996 commitment to provide universal
access to effective HIV treatment influenced global policies on
access to medicine. China has been a leader on malaria treatment
in Africa, while South Africa is pioneering the introduction of
molecular diagnostics for tuberculosis.
But experts say that while the BRICS are spending more on
foreign aid than ever before, it still amounts to a drop in the
ocean compared with what Western donors are giving.
In 2010, the five BRICS countries disbursed a total of $6.4
billion in foreign aid, the group said. By comparison, the
United States spent $31 billion on aid in the same year.
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