The Advocacy Network for Africa welcomes provisions for emergency international resources, and debt relief, in the U.S. House of Representatives’ HEROES Act 2.0. The network applauds the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues for including authorization of these resources. These international resources will not cost the U.S. a penny, per the Congressional Budget Office. Debt relief and access to these International Monetary Fund resources — called Special Drawing Rights — are critical. These tools will help low- and middle-income countries –including indebted African countries and others — survive and rebuild.

mitigate mass starvation and acute economic crisis, the Senate must pass similar legislation as quickly as possible, and the President must sign it into law. Although the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in Africa remains low, the continent faces unique challenges:
African countries have relatively limited resources, high-density communities, fragile public health systems, scarcity of medical personnel, and acute shortages of vital essential services like reliable water and power sourcing. The COVID-related economic downturn is already causing havoc in African countries. Some of the economies are decimated. Experts say the continent has suffered a loss of 30 years of economic gain.
The U.S. must allow the International Monetary Fund to release emergency financial resources. The Advocacy Network for Africa calls on Speaker Pelosi and the leadership of the Senate, to preserve these provisions in their entirety in a final COVID-19 relief package. Without this simple action — which will cost not a penny to the U.S. taxpayer — countless people around the world will needlessly die. We urge the U.S. Congress to do the right thing and save lives.

For More information Contact:
Pauline Muchina: PMuchina@afsc.org
Adotei Akwei: aakwei@aiusa.org

The Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA) is a non-partisan network of more than 200 US-based organizations with a programmatic focus on Africa or U.S-Africa policy.

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AFJN is an AdNA member