As we get back into the swing of things after the excesses of the festive season and the start of a new year, it’s a great time to reflect on the past and to make some new resolutions (that we will actually stick to!). One that should be at the very top of the list is Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger by 2015. This resolution is Goal 1 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of objectives that aim to halve extreme poverty and to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people by 2015. The goals were adopted by world leaders from 189 countries at the United Nations Headquarters in September 2000. There are eight MDGs, which are broken down into a further 21 targets.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger by 2015 includes the following targets:

• Target 1.A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day
• Target 1.B:  Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
• Target 1.C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

While it is true we are making progress towards the 2015 targets, much more work needs to be done to meet these targets and to make poverty history, especially in the wake of the global food and financial crises.

The UN Millennium Campaign estimates that:

One third of deaths worldwide – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes.

More than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases every year – that’s over 30,000 per day.

More than 1 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day.

About 800 million people go to bed hungry every night.

Goal 1 is an important resolution that must be met, not only to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, but to ensure that the seven other MDGs are met. Without a place to live, a secure job, or food to feed you and your family, it is impossible to break the cycle of poverty.

We are on track to meet the poverty reduction target by 2015, as overall poverty rates fell from 46 per cent in 1990 to 27 per cent in 2005 in developing regions, despite the setbacks caused by the financial and food crises. However, statistics show that roughly 920 million people will still be living under the international poverty line ($1.25 a day) in 2015.

The global financial crisis led to the deterioration of the labour market and higher rates of unemployment in developing regions. At present, more workers are taking on forms of vulnerable employment where there is often a lack of adequate social protection, low pay and difficult working conditions.

The proportion of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition is declining but progress has stalled towards meeting the hunger target by 2015. Poor consumers have not been able to buy sufficient amounts of food to feed their families due to increases in food prices and higher rates of unemployment.

Despite these setbacks, many advances are being made to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. Rapid economic development and poverty reduction efforts in China and India have lifted millions of people out of poverty and increased employment rates. A range of microfinance, small business, women’s rights, community health, nutrition, food security, and youth leadership projects have successfully improved the lives and livelihoods of millions around the world.

Simple steps can be taken to ensure that this resolution is met by 2015: Start a conversation with friends, family and colleagues. Discuss the importance of more and better aid and food security. Write to your local MP. Shop ethically.

So it’s definitely time to make the resolution to work towards eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. Together we can make poverty history.

Written by Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the UN Millennium Campaign website.

MPH has joined the Cluster Munition Coalition Australia (CMCA) to support the Send-a-Sock campaign.

The campaign addresses the proposed Australian legislation on cluster bombs.While the Australian Government has signed the international ban on cluster bombs and are soon to ratify it, the draft legislation has loopholes.  It would allow Australian troops to assist the US in using cluster bombs and allow stockpiling of US cluster bombs in Australia.

Cluster bombs have a big impact on poverty creation. As they have a large failure rate they can remain for years unexploded. This prevents farmers from returning to work their land and people from returning to their homes.  When they do explode, cluster bombs are responsible for severe injuries including loss of limbs and blindness, and in many cases death. 98% of cluster bomb victims are civilians and one third are children.

Ask the Hon. Stephen Smith, Minister of Defence, to fix the Bill by supporting amendments to the draft legislation. Take action now and send a sock, to represent the victims of cluster bombs, and the flyer below asking Stephen Smith to address the loopholes in the legislation.

Photo credit: stopclustermunitions.org/Simon Conway

Another yearly COP meeting has wrapped up but are steps being taken in the right direction to combat climate change?

COP 17 (Conference of the Parties) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Durban, South Africa and brought together representatives of the world’s governments, international organisations and civil society, to ensure that the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Action Plan (COP 13), and the Cancun Agreements (COP 16) are implemented and incorporated into international efforts to combat climate change.

Make Poverty History recognises that poverty reduction lies at the centre of the debate on climate change. There was hope that at COP 17, governments would agree to slash emissions and increase financial assistance to those who are most vulnerable to climate shocks – people living in poverty in developing countries – to help deal with climate change and its impacts on food production, agriculture and public health. Climate change is already having negative effects on the lives and livelihoods of those living in poverty and it is clear that poor people are losing out twice: they are hardest hit by a crisis they did not cause, and they are not yet served by funds that should be helping them.

Immediate action must be taken internationally to avoid the severe consequences of climate change, as farmers in parts of Africa could face a drop in crop yields of more than fifty percent within this generation or that of their children. Food prices could more than double within the next two decades, up to half of this caused by climate change. Climate change will expose an additional 75-250 million peoplein Africa to water shortages and 300 million Africans already live in drought or drought-prone areas. This highlights the importance of delivering immediate assistance and taking immediate action to ensure the most vulnerable people can protect themselves from a changing climate.

The key developments of COP 17 are steps in the right direction, such as:

• All countries have agreed to establish a legally binding agreement covering all countries by 2015
• The Kyoto Protocol, due to expire next year, has received an extension out to 2017
•  A ‘Green Climate Fund’ has been established to help developing nations transition to clean energy and lower emissions

But these steps are not the urgent action required to make immediate cuts in global greenhouse pollution. All nations have acknowledged the need to limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees, as in the Cancun Agreement of 2010, and recognise that current agreements will not achieve this. While steps are being taken in the right direction to combat climate change, they are being taken too slowly. Immediate action must be taken to ensure that we can halt and reduce the impacts of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

Climate change will have a number of negative impacts on the achievement of the MDGs, such as changes in agriculture production, food and water security, the displacement and migration of communities, public health and environmental sustainability.  For more information on how climate change impacts on the achievement of the MDGs, check out the UNDP website.

Written by Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the COP 17 website

“Inclusion of persons with disabilities in all development work is crucial to achieving the MDGS” – United Nations General Assembly

Today is International Day for Persons with Disabilities which aims to promote an understanding of people with disability and encourage support for their dignity, rights and well-being. The day looks to increase public awareness of the benefits of the integration of people with disability in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Several MPH partners such as Act for Peace, ChildFund, Micah Challenge, and the Oaktree Foundation endorse the End the Cycle campaign. End the Cycle aims to raise public awareness of the cycle of poverty and disability in developing nations and highlights the fact that all eight of the MDGs cannot be achieved without the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their participation in all stages of the MDG process. At the moment, there are no references to persons with disabilities either in the MDGs themselves or in the accompanying body of guidelines and policies, programmes and conferences that are part of the on-going MDG efforts. 

The link between disability and poverty is profound, as 20% of the world’s poorest people have a disability. Persons with disabilities are often excluded from community life and lack access to clean water, healthcare, education, legal protection against discrimination and employment opportunities, which enforces a cycle where disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty. End the Cycle’s key statistics are as follows:

• 15% of the world’s population have a disability – over 1 billion people worldwide
• 8 out of every 10 people with a disability live in a developing country
• 110-190 million people experience a very significant impact from disability
• Many social barriers faced by people with disabilities are avoidable
• People with disabilities have poorer health, lower education achievements, less economic participation and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities
• Disability is more common among women, older people and low income households
• Developing countries have a higher prevalence of disability than developed countries

We have a responsibility to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are recognised and that they are included in all the work we do around the MDGs. Simply put – the MDGs are about equality and poverty alleviation – including for the one in five of the world’s poorest people who have disabilities.

Written by Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the Official End the Cycle website

IT took the international “summit season”, a visit by US President Barack Obama and the prospect of a reversal on our ban on sales of uranium to India to finally put foreign affairs on the national political landscape.

And when it did come into the spotlight the focus was squarely on the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. The “Asian Century”, the “China Century” or “America’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific” dominated debate.

The focus on our region is belated but welcome. Yet it is short-sighted if we just limit such a debate to issues of diplomacy and defence. In absolute numbers, there are more people living in poverty in the Asia-Pacific region than in any other. Any approach to the region must not only tackle issues of trade and security, but also contribute to regional efforts to combat poverty.

It is fair to say foreign policy has not dominated the Australian political landscape over recent months. Likewise, neither leader has tried to forge their credentials upon foreign affairs issues.

Yet in terms of the bipartisan approach to overseas aid that has survived the often toxic political environment they have struck the right political chord. Australia is committed to increasing aid spending from its current low level of just 35c in every $100 of Australia’s national wealth.

This places Australia 15th on the league ladder of aid donors. We still spend a smaller proportion of our national wealth on aid than countries such as Spain and Ireland, which are mired in debt.

Both the government and opposition are committed to increase spending to 50c in every $100 by 2015-16 (just 0.5 per cent of gross national income).

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd reaffirmed in parliament this month this target, which he admits is a “modest target” and would place us midway on the list of OECD donors.

Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop has endorsed this target. She told aid agencies last year “the Coalition believes the aid budget should be quarantined from what is often called euphemistically ‘fiscal consolidation’ “. In other words, no cut to the aid budget.

In his ministerial statement, Rudd also announced measures to improve the transparency of the aid program, steps the opposition has welcomed.

This bipartisan leadership reflects some key international developments, most clearly in Britain, where the Conservatives are legislating to raise their aid spending to 0.7 per cent by 2013 – a move supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

For Australia, contributing to fighting poverty and disease in the Asia-Pacific region is not only the right thing to do, it is in our national interest and it also promotes stability and growth.

It is every bit as important as efforts to tackle the European debt crisis that has dominated the efforts of world leaders.

Andrew Hewett, executive director of Oxfam Australia, and Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, are co-chairs of Make Poverty History

From:
 The Australian November 30, 2011

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people around the world to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS. On 1 December we mark the 30th anniversary of the first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS.

Over the last three decades, more than 25 million people have died from the virus, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history. Every day over 7,400 people are infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS related illnesses. HIV remains the leading cause of death among reproductive-age women worldwide. An estimated 33.4 million people were living with HIV in 2008, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many advances have been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, especially in terms of how the virus is treated and increasing public awareness of how HIV/AIDS is contracted. However, further action must be taken to ensure that we reach Goal 6 of the MDGs: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. At present it will be difficult to meet the following HIV/AIDS targets by 2015:

• Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

People with HIV/AIDS are likely to suffer the most from the lack of safe water supply and sanitation, especially since diarrhoea and skin diseases are two of the more common infections. The main indicators for progress towards this goal are:

• HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15 to 24
• Ratio of condom use to other contraceptive methods
• Number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

For more information on HIV/AIDS success stories check out the UN MDGs Factsheet, examples discussed include antiretroviral treatment in Botswana and reducing rateas of new HIV infections among young people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

HIV can affect anyone and there is no vaccine or cure. The World AIDS Day Australia booklet  contains important information about HIV and AIDS, including how you can protect yourself and where to go for more information and help. Take time to read it and then pass it on to your friends, family and loved ones. You may be saving your life and others.

Written by Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the Official World AIDS Day website

Every year on 1 December, people around the world get involved in advocacy and fundraising events for World AIDS Day, including wearing the symbolic red ribbon.  The red ribbon is an expression of awareness, compassion and support for people living with HIV, the colour red symbolising passion and love.  It is a globally-recognised symbol that this year celebrates its 20^th anniversary of being first worn in public.  For some dedicated and hardworking young people, these red ribbons are worn every day of the year – at least metaphorically.

YouthLEAD (Youth Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development Project) is a growing network of young people from the Asia-Pacific region who are leading positive change in the response to HIV.  What makes this group especially unique as a network is not just their age (young people aged 15 – 24yrs), but their focus on working and engaging with young key affected populations, often known as ‘YKAPs’.  In this context, YKAPs include young people involved in transactional sex; young men who have sex with men; young transgender persons, young people who inject drugs; and young people living with HIV.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, an estimated 500,000 young people aged 15-24 are currently living with HIV[1]. While the overall prevalence in most countries is low, the epidemic is highly concentrated in YKAPs.   Recent data from the Global Commission on AIDS in Asia indicated that in the region, 95% of all new infections in young people are among YKAPs, even though this group make up only 5% of the youth population[2].

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) kicks off today in Busan, Korea and it is already making history: it is the first time that civil society will play a lead role in aid effectiveness negotiations in conjunction with governments and donors. The Forum aims to boost the impact of development aid through dialogue and cooperation, and looks to build on previous commitments made in both Paris and Accra to increase aid effectiveness and transparency.

At the moment, we do not know how much is being spent on aid, where it is spent or what it is spent on – and it is this lack of information that undermines aid effectiveness. Transparent aid delivery, where aid levels are monitored, assessed and documented, helps us understand where aid is going, where it has come from and whether conditions or contracts have been attached. This lets us assess how effective aid delivery really is, and allows citizens to hold their governments to account. Aid transparency assists in reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by giving aid recipients the chance to plan the effective use of their own resources, and allows donors to have a clearer understanding of what other donors and aid agencies are doing. These processes reduce corruption and increase the inclusion of various civil society actors at the grassroots level.

The HLF-4 is all about dialogue and cooperation to increase aid effectiveness and transparency, so start a conversation about aid transparency and the importance of the MDGs: sign the Make Aid Transparent petition, talk to your friends, family, and colleagues, write to your local MP to call for improved aid transparency, follow MPH on Twitter  or post your own comments on the MPH blog and facebook page. Just hours out from the opening of the HLF-4 in Busan, Korea, 55,000 people have signed the petition calling on donors to make their aid more transparent. The petition will be presented to ministers tomorrow during the second day of the Forum.

Starting a conversation about aid transparency and the MDGs has led to big changes just in time for the opening of HLF-4. On 23 November, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced the publication of detailed information on Australia’s aid program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program and to ensure that aid is “making a real difference in the lives of people in need around the world”. This is the result of conversation at both the local and international level and has successfully highlighted the need for aid transparency both here in Australia and around the world.

To see how the international aid transparency figures stack up, check out the Aid Transparency Index by Publish What You Fund.

Written by: Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the Official Busan HFL-4 website