Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's good to be here, and thank you very much to all our witnesses for your passionate and very informed presentations. I very much appreciated hearing what you had to say.
I wanted to change tack a bit here and focus a little more on HIV/AIDS. By the end of 2008, women comprised half the adults living with HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls account for six out of every ten people living with HIV. I'm wondering if any of you or each of you could tell us what impact HIV has on maternal mortality or its implications generally for the G-8 initiative and beyond, and what role Canada has and can play in addressing this crisis.
In the last budget, the government announced it would not be increasing our overall aid budget past the 2011 fiscal year, which goes against previous commitments. I'm wondering if anyone would like to comment on that.