Swaps Against AIDS

Adapted extract from The Futurist (Jan '94) monitored for the Institute by Greg Wright.

Debt-ridden countries such as those in Africa face severe financial restrictions for AIDS-education programmes. But a creative scheme called 'Swaps Against AIDS', launched in Washington, DC, in 1992, has unlocked more than $400,000 of extra resources for AIDS programmes in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. A swap that will yield at least $1 million is planned for Nigeria, according to the World Health Organisation.

In these programmes, a commercial bank that fears a developing country will not be able to repay its loan sells the debt to a development organisation at a loss. The debtor then repays the development organisation less then it owed the bank, while the development organisation uses the repaid funds for AIDS education or other projects in the debtor country. Swaps have been planned for Brazil, Ecuador, India, Jamaica, the Philippines, Burundi, Cameroon, Malawi and Uganda.

Source: Global AIDSnews (1993 No 2), Global Programme on AIDS, World Health Organisation, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.

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