TMCnet News

AHF Mobilizes DC World Bank Protest: Friday, October 13, 12 pm - 1 pm
[October 12, 2017]

AHF Mobilizes DC World Bank Protest: Friday, October 13, 12 pm - 1 pm


AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) continues its activism to push for reforms in the way the World Bank classifies "middle-income countries" (MIC) and will hold another peaceful demonstration on Friday, October 13th outside the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC. Building upon its "Raise The MIC" global advocacy campaign, which was launched in 2015 with support from over 300 organizations and advocates in 30 countries, demonstrators will call on the World Bank to set the lower limit of the MIC category at or above $3,650 of Gross National Income per capita-equivalent to about $10 per day-to increase poor nations' access to foreign aid, including HIV/AIDS drugs and other essential medications. The World Bank currently designates MICs as those with an income of at least $2.76/day, barely above the International Poverty Line of $1.90/day.

For a visual breakdown of how the current MIC classification system affects the world's poorest countries, view this video produced by AHF: https://youtu.be/r5bqB2lSCvM





WHAT:       WORLD BANK PROTEST: Advocates to press World Bank to update flawed Middle Income Country (MIC) designations.
 
WHEN: Friday, October 13, 2017

12 - 1 PM ET

 
WHERE: World Bank Headquarters

1818 H St. NW

Washington, DC 20006

 
WHO: Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy
 
B-ROLL: 100 advocates with placards, whistles & banners, 3ft world globe balloons
 

CONTACT: Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy for AHF, +1 (323) 219-1091 cell

"Seventy-five percent of the world's poor reside in countries classified as middle-income, including the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS," said John Hassell, AHF's Regional Director in Washington, D.C. "The current MIC designation covers countries whose average citizen lives just above the poverty line and whose basic necessities are barely met. We are urging the World Bank to revise its methodology so that it more closely aligns with the economic realities of people in the developing world."

AHF and its partners say that the Bank's MIC designations-which are frequently used by other global funders and development bodies-translate into inadequate foreign aid for countries suffering from poverty and prevent access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs and other essential medications. As a result of their MIC designation, countries with weak economies face reductions in foreign aid, fewer concessionary development loans and higher prices for essential medicines-including lifesaving antiretroviral therapies for HIV/AIDS. For example, Mexico, Vietnam, and Ukraine pay as much as ten times the cost of commonly prescribed HIV drugs compared to countries classified as low-income, despite high levels of income inequality and greater disease burden. In Swaziland, nearly 1 in 3 adults is HIV-positive; however, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has stopped providing condoms to the country due to its MIC designation.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 810,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @aidshealthcare.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]