President George W. Bush, under pressure to provide more help to Africa ahead of a G8 summit next week, pledged on Thursday to provide $1.2 billion through 2008 to help combat malaria in sub-Saharan Africa as part of what he called an eventual doubling of U.S. aid, Reuters said. With Africa a top agenda item for Group of Eight leaders meeting on July 6 to 8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, Bush defended his record and pledged to do more by fighting malaria, which claims an estimated 1.2 million people a year worldwide, 95 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the White House announced $400 million for an African education initiative over four years to help improve basic education for millions of African children, and $55 million to support efforts in four African nations to combat sexual violence and abuse against women. All told, U.S. aid to Africa has been on the increase and national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the new assistance, if approved by the U.S. Congress, would amount to a doubling of aid to $8.6 billion from $4.3 billion by 2010. --More 2243 Local Time 1943 GMT
