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[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Needless
deaths are avoided and lives are improved beyond measure each time rich
nations reduce debt repayments they take from impoverished states. This
is the picture shown in three Channel 4 short films as the world prepares
for the financial deal-making of the G8 summit in Genoa on 20 July.
Despite the success of debt reduction, the wealthiest
countries continue to reap huge profits from their loans. The films reveal
the human effects of this policy on Uganda.
'The moment I heard about free education I went back to school,' says
Kasalo. Primary school attendance rocketed from 2.5 million children to
7 million in just 4 years after debt repayments were first reduced in
1997. Stephen Opolot teaches at one of the schools to benefit. 'These
children were hunters and now they can come to school,' he says. There
are more than 200 children in a class, but fees must be paid for secondary
education.
Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to get substantial debt
relief from the World Bank and IMF. Since 1997, the cost of servicing
its debt has been reduced by a third.
Rose Lukungu, a single mother and subsistence farmer, could barely feed
her children until a farming adviser, paid from debt-relief money, taught
her to transform her vegetable patch into a profit-making business. She
now feeds her family and is able to pay for her daughter's school
thanks to a new cow financed by debt relief. 'I can stand by my family
and provide everything they need,' Rose says.
Many patients survive preventable diseases, thanks to debt relief. Bugono
Health Centre has its first doctor. Dr Kashira Ziraba says: 'We can travel
to communities to immunise people.' It's huge progress, but parents
must still carry their critically sick baby on a two-hour walk for specialist
treatment.
Much more needs to be done. Last year richer nations promised to end the
Third World debt crisis; only 23 states have seen reductions in their
payments and many more have received nothing. Uganda is still paying £50million
each year for its debts.
Graphic version Includes layout and images.