The costs of debt:

Côte D'Ivoire:

• Côte D'Ivoire has an external debt of around US$12 billion, and pays more than US$500 million a year in service payments.
• Meanwhile, it has so little to spend on education that it charges fees for primary school.
• Nearly a third of school-age boys and almost half of school-age girls in Côte D'Ivoire are out of school.

Malawi:

• In 2006, Malawi paid US$75 million to service its external debts while in the midst of a food and health crisis.
• The country has only 2,200 nurses and fewer than 200 doctors for approximately 12 million people - the smallest number of doctors per person anywhere in the world.
• It has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world: on average, 1 woman in 7 dies in childbirth.
• 1 in 7 adults is HIV-positive, with more than twice as many women aged 15 to 24 infected than men in the same age group.
• Studies have shown that Malawian girls who go to secondary school are less likely to become infected with HIV; however, less than 33% of girls go to secondary school.
• While the amount Malawi was spending on debt service could have been used to address its HIV and AIDS crisis and provide healthcare and education, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was telling Malawi to "contain expenditures" if it wanted debt relief.
• Meanwhile, some creditors kept demanding that Malawi hand over money to them at the cost of people, particularly women, dying unnecessarily.
• In 2006, Malawi's US$3.5 billion external debt was cancelled after 6 years of negotiations.

The benefits of debt relief:

Bolivia and Mauritania:

• Bolivia and Mauritania both directed funds from debt relief towards efforts to improve healthcare.
• Before debt relief, only around 40% of births in each country were attended by a health professional; now it is nearly 60% in Mauritania and 70% in Bolivia.

Uganda:

• In Uganda, debt relief enabled the government to abolish fees for primary school - resulting in an increase in the number of children attending school, particularly girls.
• Before debt relief, there were 20% fewer girls than boys in school; now, numbers are almost even.