UN urges greater spending on AIDS and poverty battle

Millions of Africans could die from hunger and preventable illnesses if promises of funding are not kept in 2006, Jeffrey Sachs, the UN special adviser on poverty has warned.

Speaking in Kenya during a six-country African visit, Sachs stressed that missing aid, promised by donors for so long but not yet delivered, was now urgently needed.

"If they [donors] follow through on that, there is enough money to overcome the hunger deficit; to fight malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other killer diseases; to build basic infrastructure and to enable impoverished countries to start climbing the ladder of development," he said.

He noted that promised investments in better food production, health needs and water management could alleviate what had become a "seemingly endless cycle of disaster".