Updated Fact Sheet Available

Fact Sheet

The United States is taking strong and sustained action to help build democracy and economic opportunity and to reduce poverty and disease in Africa.

The following list highlights a few key U.S. Government assistance programs in Africa. In addition to these, the United States supports many bilateral and multi-lateral programs in partnership with Africans, that support African efforts to develop and implement solutions to the continent's development challenges.

Overall Development Assistance

• The U.S. provided $3.2 billion in official development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2004 to help relieve poverty, provide essential health and medical services, and spur economic growth. This is nearly triple the amount provided in 2000 ($1.1 billion), and the fastest rate of growth in U.S. foreign assistance since the Marshall Plan.

Trade

• Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), imports from Africa increased by 88% last year. The 37 AGOA-eligible countries can market 98% of their goods to the U.S. duty-free.

HIV/AIDS Relief

• Through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, African countries received $780 million for HIV/AIDS prevention in 2004. That amount will grow to $1.1 billion in 2005.
• The U.S. has supported lifesaving treatment for more than 230,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa, and we are on track to meeting our five-year goal of providing treatment for two million African adults and children.

Emergency Humanitarian Assistance

• The U.S. is the world's largest provider of emergency humanitarian assistance to Africa. We have provided $1.4 billion to date in 2005.
• In addition, the President announced on June 7, an additional $674 million in humanitarian assistance for this year, in part to provide food to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa.

Darfur Humanitarian Assistance

• The United States provided more than $379 million this year in  humanitarian assistance for the people in Darfur and the refugees who fled to Chad. Between 2003 and 2005, we provided more than $638 million for humanitarian assistance in Darfur.

Debt Relief

• The United States is joining its G8 partners to provide debt relief for 14 of Africa's poorest nations now, and another 18 African countries are under consideration.

Millennium Challenge Account

• Eight sub-Saharan African countries are currently eligible for funding under the President's Millennium Challenge Account Initiative, an  innovative mechanism providing aid to countries where sound economic policies and good governance promote an enabling environment for economic growth.
• Madagascar has already signed a Millennium Challenge compact worth $110 million for rural development initiatives, and several more compacts are expected to be signed this year.

Peacekeeping and Security

• The United States is working to help the nations of Africa take on peace support operations. We provided $150 million to the African Union peace mission in Darfur. We also are funding the new UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) through our peacekeeping contribution to the United Nations' $132 million in 2005.
• Over the next five years, the United States will provide training for over 40,000 African peacekeepers through the Global Peace Operations Initiative  (GPOI)/Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program.