The Make Poverty History (MPH) coalition is distributing 50,000 copies of a free newspaper to commuters to coincide with the commencement in Melbourne of the United Nations Department of Public Information conference on global health issues.

EMC (Every Minute Counts) is a tabloid style free newspaper aimed at making the issues surrounding poverty and development accessible to everyone. Whether your interest is in news, celebrities or the astrological form of the stars, there is something for everyone in EMC.

“We think its time we took the message about poverty alleviation to the man and woman on the street,” said MPH Co-chair Andrew Hewett. “This really is an issue that all of us should be concerned about and involved in.”

One hundred volunteers dressed in their ‘Every Minute Counts – Make Poverty History’ T-shirts will distribute 30,000 copies of EMC across Melbourne at Southern Cross, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff railway stations and in Swanston, Bourke and Elizabeth Streets. Another 20,000 copies will be distributed around Australia.

The UN conference in Melbourne is the last step towards the UN General Assembly meeting in September which will review progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and halving poverty by 2015.This is the first time that the UN has held a meeting in Australia and only the third time in 63 years the conference has been held away from New York City.

In 2000 the countries of the world, including Australia, agreed to eight MDGs that would cut extreme poverty in half. The goals included reducing hunger, providing primary level schooling for all children, cutting child and maternal mortality rates and providing people with clean water and sanitation.

While some significant progress has been made on these goals they remain seriously off–track. “The governments of the world must reinvigorate the MDGs if we are to achieve our aim of halving poverty,” said Tim Costello, joint Co-chair of MPH. “The Melbourne conference is an important stepping stone to getting the process back on track,” he said

Make Poverty History is a coalition of more than 60 aid agencies, community groups and religious organisations working to hold governments accountable to their commitment to halve global poverty by achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Find the online version of the EMC at http://news.makepovertyhistory.com.au

For media inquiries contact:
Ariani Soejoeti (+61448684033); ariani@makepovertyhistory.com.au