Aid groups slam reduction in money to maternal and infant health initiative

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Source: Washington Post

TORONTO -- Canada announced on Friday a multibillion-dollar initiative to combat infant mortality and improve maternal health globally, but the aid package was far smaller than expected, undercut by a new drive toward austerity that reduced the contributions of wealthy nations.

Aid groups promptly slammed the $7.3 billion effort as insufficient, having expected the world's richest nations to follow through on a commitment to give $10 billion to their poorer counterparts.

The package "failed to translate into the bold leadership needed to save these lives," said Michael Klosson, associate vice president of Save the Children.

Canada's initiative emerged as the major development venture under discussion at a round of summit meetings here among the world's major industrialized nations. Named after the lakeside resort where leaders of the Group of Eight nations gathered Friday, the Muskoka Initiative is part of what officials say is an effort to concentrate on core development goals. But the plan highlighted how world economic dynamics have made a sudden lurch toward less government spending.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062502903.html?wprss=rss_world/asia

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