World Vision USA has urged leaders of G8 countries to take the next steps to meet their commitments to end extreme poverty and stop the devastation caused in the developing world by Aids.

In a paper released for this week's meeting of government development ministers, World Vision USA called on G8 leaders to act now to prioritise children and ensure universal access to care, prevention and treatment.

World Vision USA also called for a high-level group to be set up in order to oversee and monitor progress on G8 commitments to the fight against Aids.

Aids has already orphaned 15 million children according to the organisation. In 2006 alone, it killed an estimated 380,000 children under the age of 15. Of all global Aids-related deaths in 2006, 72 per cent occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. With increased resources, millions of lives can be saved.

Directors of World Vision's national offices in 25 African countries have emphasised several of these key points directly with the G8 president's office in advance of agenda-setting meetings. Development ministers from the Group of Eight nations are now meeting to prepare for the summit in Germany this June. The agenda will include issues related to the Millennium Development Goals to cut poverty in half by 2015, based on promises made to the poor by world leaders at the 2005 summit.

"It is essential that we now ensure that children who are vulnerable or orphaned by Aids are a priority when this funding is used,'' said Robert Zachritz, senior policy advisor for global development at World Vision USA and a co-author of the paper. "World leaders must work together to fight global poverty and disease."

World Vision USA's new policy briefing urges an increase in funding to achieve universal access to prevention, treatment and care, and to ensure orphans and vulnerable children are not left behind in the global fight against Aids.

More than 200,000 people in the US recently joined the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History, a coalition of 800 organisations including World Vision, to push the US government for policies that will provide more and better aid internationally and help children get the care and treatment they need.