AU member states expenditure on health is the comment of the Public Agenda. In 2001, AU member states promised to increase their spending on health to a minimum of 15% of their national budgets. Since then total health spending has fallen in 14 countries. Only six countries - Botswana , Burkina Faso , Malawi , Niger , Rwanda and Zambia - have reached the target that they set themselves nine years ago.

These revelations were contained in a statement issued by Fair Play Africa, a coalition of over 200 African civil society social justice campaigners, and released in ten African countries last Friday.

The statement was released in Ghana by the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights in Accra, Issued to herald the launch of an Africa-wide campaign for improved healthcare for the people of the continent, the statement calls on African heads of states to play fair with their citizens by keeping to their promise to spend 15% of their national budgets on health.

The campaign launch is slated for this month in Luanda, and it's planned to coincide with the finals of the ongoing African Cup of Nations, and the African Union summit in Ethiopia this week. The campaigners will be seeking to press home a demand on African leaders to develop a plan of action to accelerate progress on meeting health goals on the continent.

"As African nations prepare for the first World Cup on African soil, millions of the poorest African people are fighting for their lives. Diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS continue to devastate the continent, and neither the international community nor AU governments have done enough to save lives." The Chairperson of Fair Play for Africa, Mabalane Mfundisi lamented last week.

The statement points to the fact that the UN Millennium Development Goals seek a two-thirds reduction in the deaths of children under five, and to reduce maternal mortality rates by three-quarters by 2015, and expresses regret that over the last 10 years, only 5 of Africa's 53 countries have managed to halve mortality in children under the age of five. In six countries, child mortality has actually increased. Average maternal mortality rates, it said, have also risen in 23 out of 49 African countries.

The Fair Play for Africa campaign, according to the statements, urges the African Union member states to endorse an MDG Acceleration Plan at the next AU Summit in July 2010; set a timetable within which they will reach the Abuja 15% commitment; and calls on African parliamentarians to exercise greater scrutiny of resources and ensure effective spending towards the provision of health for all.

The campaign, according to the statement also wants donor countries to deliver on the aid commitments made at the 2005 G8 meeting in Gleneagles by supporting an African-led Acceleration Plan for reaching the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

"2010 must be a year when our leaders demonstrate Africa's humanity by meeting their commitments to provide healthcare for all their people," the statement quoted Mfundisi.

The campaign is being spearheaded by the Africa Diaspora Forum, African Monitor, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights, Dance4Life, GCAP Africa, South African Football Players Union.