PREAMBLE: The MDG Report 2012 was launched in New York by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on July 2, 2012. Several MDG targets have been met well ahead of the 2015 target date. The report states that meeting remaining targets remains possible if Governments keep their commitments made over a decade ago. Clearly this includes both recipient and donor nations.
Highlights of the Report:
Extreme poverty is falling in every region including Sub- Saharan Africa.
The poverty reduction target was met: the global poverty rate at $1.25 a day fell in 2010 to less than half the 1990 rate. If confirmed, the first target of the MDGs— cutting extreme poverty to half its 1990 level—will have been achieved at the global level well ahead of 2015.
The world has met the target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water: the proportion of people using an improved water source rising from 76 per cent in 1990 to 89 percent in 2010.
Improvements in the lives of 200 million slum dwellers exceeded the slum target: The share of urban residents in the developing world living in slums declined from 39 per cent in 2000 to 33 per cent in 2012. This achievement exceeds the target of significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, well ahead of the 2020 deadline.
The world has achieved parity in primary education between girls and boys: Many more children are enrolled in primary school, especially since 2000. Girls benefited the most. The gender parity index value of 97 falls within the margin of error for 100.
Many countries facing the greatest challenges have made significant progress towards universal primary education. Enrolment rates of primary school age children increased markedly in sub-Saharan Africa, from 58 to 76 per cent between 1999 and 2010.
Child survival progress is gaining momentum. Despite population growth, the number of under-five deaths worldwide fell from more than 12.0 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010.
Access to treatment for people living with HIV increased in all regions. At the end of 2010, 6.5 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV or AIDS in developing regions. This total constitutes an increase of over 1.4 million people from December 2009, the largest one-year increase ever. The 2010 target of universal access, however, was not reached.
The world is on track to achieve the target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of tuberculosis. Globally, tuberculosis incidence rates have been falling since 2002, and current projections suggest that the 1990 death rate from the disease will be halved by 2015.
Global malaria deaths have declined. The estimated incidence of malaria has decreased globally, by 17 per cent since 2000. Over the same period, malaria-specific mortality rates have decreased by 25 per cent. Reported malaria cases fell by more than 50 per cent between 2000 and 2010 in 43 of 99 countries with ongoing malaria transmission.
These accomplishments notwithstanding, there remain major challenges:
Inequality detracts from these gains, and advances have slowed: Achievements are unequally distributed across and within regions and countries. Moreover, progress has slowed for some MDGs after the 2008-9 economic crisis and related consequences.
Vulnerable employment has decreased only marginally over twenty years. Defined as share of unpaid family workers and own-account workers in total employment, this fell to 58 per cent from 67 per cent two decades earlier. Women and youth remain the most vulnerable.
Decreases in maternal mortality are far from the 2015 target. Despite improvements, progress is still slow. Reductions in adolescent childbearing and expansion of contraceptive use have continued, but at a slower pace since 2000 than over the decade before.
Use of improved sources of water remains lower in rural areas. While 19 per cent of the rural population used unimproved sources of water in 2010, the rate in urban areas was only 4 per cent. Nearly half of the population in developing regions still lack access to improved sanitation.
Hunger remains a global challenge. 850 million people lived in hunger in the 2006-8 period, 15.5 per cent of the world population. This continuing high level reflects lack of progress on hunger in several regions, even as income poverty decreased. Progress is slow in reducing child undernutrition. Close to one third of children in Southern Asia were underweight in 2010.
The number of people living in slums continues to grow. Despite a reduction in the proportion of urban populations living in slums, the absolute number continues to grow from a 1990 baseline of 650 million. An estimated 863 million people now live in slum conditions.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment remain key challenges. Gender inequality persists and women continue to face discrimination in access to education, work and economic assets, and participation in government. Violence against women continues to undermine efforts to reach all goals.
REFERENCE:
United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2012. New York 2012. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2012/English2012.pdf
Showing posts with label WORLD HUNGER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WORLD HUNGER. Show all posts
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Sunday, 14 March 2010
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD - IMF AND FAO REPORT
PREAMBLE: World hunger spiked sharply in 2009, significantly worsening an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996. The combination of food and economic crises has pushed the number of hungry people worldwide to historic levels.
This issue gives space to the text of a report published in the International Monetary Fund on-line bulletin: Finance & Development, March 2010, Vol 47, No 1.. The report, entitled “Hunger on the Rise” was developed by David Dawe and Denis Drechsler, based on The State of Food Insecurity in the World, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 (see below for full citations).
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people were undernourished in 2009—about 100 million more than in 2008. As a result, reaching the World Food Summit target and the Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction looks increasingly out of reach.
Poor harvests are not to blame. The FAO estimates that total cereal production in 2009 was only slightly below the record high set in 2008. Instead, the increase in hunger is mainly a result of poor people’s inability to afford the food that is produced. Many drew down savings during the food price crisis and have now lost jobs as a result of the global economic crisis.
Food prices increased considerably in developing countries during the 2006–08 world food crisis and were still high when the economic crisis started. Domestic prices of staple foods were typically 17% higher at the end of 2008 than two years earlier, after adjusting for inflation. This seriously hurt the purchasing power of poor consumers, who often spend 40% of their income on staple foods.
Thus, the global economic crisis hit developing countries at a very bad time. It further reduced access to food by lowering employment opportunities, remittances from abroad, development aid, foreign direct investment, and export opportunities.
How can hunger be eliminated? Improving world food security calls for both measures for immediate relief and more fundamental structural changes. In the short term, safety nets and social protection programs must be improved to reach those most in need.
In the medium and long term, the structural solution to hunger lies in increasing agricultural productivity to increase incomes and produce food at lower cost, especially in poor countries. The importance of longer-term measures is evidenced by the unacceptably high number of people who did not get enough to eat before the crises and are likely to remain hungry even after the food and economic crises have passed. In addition, these measures must be coupled with better governance and institutions at all levels.
Source: Dawe D, Drechsler D. Hunger on the Rise, available online at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/picture.htm
Text material attributed to the following source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned, FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2009 is available from PDF [61p.] at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf
This issue gives space to the text of a report published in the International Monetary Fund on-line bulletin: Finance & Development, March 2010, Vol 47, No 1.. The report, entitled “Hunger on the Rise” was developed by David Dawe and Denis Drechsler, based on The State of Food Insecurity in the World, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 (see below for full citations).
OVER A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people were undernourished in 2009—about 100 million more than in 2008. As a result, reaching the World Food Summit target and the Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction looks increasingly out of reach.
Poor harvests are not to blame. The FAO estimates that total cereal production in 2009 was only slightly below the record high set in 2008. Instead, the increase in hunger is mainly a result of poor people’s inability to afford the food that is produced. Many drew down savings during the food price crisis and have now lost jobs as a result of the global economic crisis.
Food prices increased considerably in developing countries during the 2006–08 world food crisis and were still high when the economic crisis started. Domestic prices of staple foods were typically 17% higher at the end of 2008 than two years earlier, after adjusting for inflation. This seriously hurt the purchasing power of poor consumers, who often spend 40% of their income on staple foods.
Thus, the global economic crisis hit developing countries at a very bad time. It further reduced access to food by lowering employment opportunities, remittances from abroad, development aid, foreign direct investment, and export opportunities.
How can hunger be eliminated? Improving world food security calls for both measures for immediate relief and more fundamental structural changes. In the short term, safety nets and social protection programs must be improved to reach those most in need.
In the medium and long term, the structural solution to hunger lies in increasing agricultural productivity to increase incomes and produce food at lower cost, especially in poor countries. The importance of longer-term measures is evidenced by the unacceptably high number of people who did not get enough to eat before the crises and are likely to remain hungry even after the food and economic crises have passed. In addition, these measures must be coupled with better governance and institutions at all levels.
Source: Dawe D, Drechsler D. Hunger on the Rise, available online at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/picture.htm
Text material attributed to the following source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned, FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2009 is available from PDF [61p.] at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf
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