Judith Robertson: Keeping to vows made on aid would save lives

Four decades later, most countries have failed to fulfil this target, including the UK. Oxfam calculates that the amount of aid lost in this time exceeds $3 trillion, enough to have ended extreme poverty (at 2005 levels) 22 times over. The UK's share is a staggering $214 billion (about 133bn), enough to have ended poverty single-handedly. To put this in perspective, in 2005 alone, the world spent $198bn on shoes and $131bn on sweets.

At present, the UK government contributes about 0.56 per cent of GNI in aid. In the recent Spending Review, it pledged to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent by 2013. Although Oxfam welcomes this commitment, we are concerned that there will be no new money between now and the 2013-14 budget, which amounts to an additional loss to poor countries of 3bn – enough to provide improved medical care to save the lives of about two million mothers and children.

We know that in this harsh economic climate, the UK government has had tough financial choices to make. But we are also acutely aware that the global financial crisis is hitting poor communities the worst, with 50 million more people forced to live on less than 75p a day.

From our work in more than 70 countries, Oxfam knows aid saves and changes lives. As a result of aid, four million fewer children will die this year; 33 million children have got the chance to go to school for the first time and four million more people have access to life saving drugs for HIV/Aids.

A UN report out this month confirmed that with the aid they have received since 1970, poor countries have made good progress. But if governments had provided what they said they would, extreme poverty could have potentially been eradicated and we could be living in a very different world.

• Judith Robertson is head of Oxfam Scotland