(DFID) New financial boost for businesses in developing countries from the UK Government

Businesses in developing countries are struggling to survive due to the economic downturn and need urgent financial support, said Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander.

At the London Summit, world leaders are working to stabilise financial markets and help families and businesses across the world to get through the recession.

And the UK Government today (THURS) intends to take practical action to support firms across the globe, helping stimulate trade in developing countries and ensuring sustainable growth.

This will be done through the World Bank's new initiative called the Global Trade Liquidity Programme (GTLP) set up to support small and medium businesses by helping address the trade finance shortage in developing countries through international banks.

The UK Government, through its development finance institution CDC, intends to make a contribution of up to £300m to the GTLP.

Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander said: "Private sector businesses are an essential engine of growth and play a vital role in stimulating global trade, which provides a lifeline to millions of people across the globe.

"People in developing countries have been disproportionately hard-hit by the economic crisis. This money will help firms keep going during the difficult climate and help to protect and create jobs.

"This is not an initiative to help make commercial banks richer.

Participating banks must all commit to using the money to support trade in developing countries. In the first phase, this will include Kenya, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles and Zambia." The proposed sum alone could help fund beween £2bn and £3bn of trade over the next two years, helping small and medium firms to import and export products. The UK money will be invested in the GTLP on a loan basis.

The shortage in trade finance, due to the current economic crisis, is a significant threat to world trade - already projected to decline by about nine per cent this year. The World Trade Organisation has suggested there could be a global shortfall of between $100bn and $300bn.

(DFID) UK keeps up aid commitments

Secretary of State says aid more important than ever during economic downturn

New aid level figures published today by the Department for International Development show the UK is on track in its fight against poverty in developing countries.

The figures, which set out the level of aid given by the UK to developing countries during 2008, show the Government is honouring its commitment to helping the world's poorest people, who are most vulnerable during the global economic downturn.

The UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending for 2008 was £6.3bn, or 0.43 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI); an increase on 2007's £4.9bn, or 0.36 per cent. The increase reflects both a steady rise in DFID spending alongside a significant rise in other official development expenditure.

The figures show that the UK remains on course to spend 0.7% of national income on development by 2013, two years ahead of the EU target. The UK is also on target to meet its share of the commitments made by the G8 at Gleneagles in 2005 to spend an additional $50 billion in developing countries by 2010, half of it in Africa.

Commenting on today's ODA figures, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said:

"We are unfaltering in our commitment to help people living in the poorest countries. For some of those who were already living in extreme poverty, the current economic crisis has had a devastating impact."

Earlier this month, the Secretary of State warned how he feared more than 90 million people could be plunged into poverty by the end of next year because of the impact of the global economic downturn.

And he urged donor countries to follow the lead of the UK and continue to meet their aid commitments helping maintain progress towards the achievement of poverty-reduction targets including the Millennium Development Goals.

UK aid is making a real difference on-the-ground by:

* Improving maternal and child health eg by providing nearly £100m to support Pakistan's maternal, newborn and child health work from 2008/13

* Increasing access to education eg by paying the wages of 100,000 teachers in Afghanistan so that today six million children can go to school, including two million girls

* Supporting countries in the fight against HIV/AIDS eg by helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria with a £62m programme between 2002/08

* Improving access to clean, fresh water eg by investing £75m in Ethiopia over the next five years to increase people's access to fresh water and improved sanitation facilities

* Providing a safety net for some of the poorest in the world eg DFID's 10-year Social Protection Programme, is helping some of the poorest people in Kenya, including 30,000 orphans, with funding of more than £120m.

(DFID) A matter of life and death for Kenya's mums but a mothers' day lie-in for UK

A new YouGov poll reveals that 52% of women in Britain were 'most worried' about receiving pain relief during childbirth, and 50% said they were concerned about getting to the hospital on time.

For pregnant women in Nyanza Province, just getting to the hospital can pose huge problems, with many needing to walk for more than an hour whilst in labour to get medical care at the local hospital.

In Kenya though, with DFID's assistance and the help of the British taxpayer, innovative solutions are being found to local problems, such as paying for a motorbike ambulance which is helping to save lives in a rural area.

A motorbike-ambulance operates in Nyanza Province and is fitted with a sidecar, which is used to transport women to their nearest maternity hospital. This 200cc motorbike-ambulance, which is specially built for negotiating rough rural terrain, has a specially constructed padded sidecar, in which a patient can lie down safely strapped in. The motorbike-ambulance collects women from the lakeside villages, meaning mum and baby have a much better chance of survival.

Here in Britain, 42% of Mums are worried about the financial pressures of raising a child. In Kenya, money worries after the birth are much less of an issue (20%); instead 30 per cent of new mums in Nyanza province worry about not being able to easily access good maternity care.

One penny in every UK tax pound goes towards helping the poorest countries and funds projects such as DFID's Essential Health Services programme, providing pre-natal and postnatal care for mothers and babies in Nyanza Province. A health centre building is currently being refurbished as a maternity wing and is due to open in May.

Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary said:
"Women's health is critical to a country's future. When a mother dies in childbirth everyone suffers - her child, her family and her community.
"That's why DFID makes improving maternal health in developing countries such a priority - from training for nurse-midwives, as I saw for myself in Kisumu in Kenya, to funding clinics, ambulances, immunisation programmes and health education."

Mary Atieno, 24, from Gwassa in Nyanza Province, is due to have her child on Mother's Day. She is considering naming her baby Doreen - after the senior midwife at Magunga. Mrs Atieno says:

"I'm not worried now about any problems - I'll come to the hospital and anything can be sorted out. The sister knows how to make everything all right."

Judith Awuma, 22, is attending the post-natal clinic with her six week old son, Joseph:

"We came to hospital because we know it's safer - my grandmother wanted me to stay in the village, but I said no. You can be helped in the hospital if there are complications. It was my first pregnancy, and I wanted everything to go right."

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