Posts for 'World' Category

Malnutrition has long been recognized as a consequence of poverty. It is widely accepted that higher rates of malnutrition will be found in areas with chronic widespread poverty (ADB, 2001). Malnutrition is the result of marginal dietary intake compounded by infection. In turn, marginal dietary intake is caused by household food insecurity, lack of clean water, lack of knowledge on good sanitation, and lack of alternative sources of income. It is also compounded by, inadequate care, gender inequality, poor health services, and poor environment. While income is not the sum of total of people's lives, health status as reflects by level of malnutrition is.

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The General Office of China's State Council, the Cabinet, and the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued a circular recently, calling for more progress in the nation's poverty alleviation work.

Poverty alleviation work that targets old revolutionary base areas, ethnic regions, border areas and poverty-stricken areas has made great progress since it was started 24 years ago, the circular said. Future tasks are to focus on ensuring adequate food and clothing for people in need and helping them out of poverty via improving their capabilities for development on their own.

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The Chancellor said he was confident that no more families would fall below the breadline despite the rise in VAT and removal of several benefits for those with children. In the final announcement of his Budget speech, he said the Government would “provide additional support to families in poverty”. This would be carried out through an increase in the child element of child tax credit – currently worth up to £2,300 a year – by £150 above inflation next year and £60 in 2012-13.

Because eligibility to child tax credits is being reduced for middle-income households, the measure will benefit the poorest families the most. Mr Osborne said: “These are among the most vulnerable people in our society and they need our help. I have decided to increase the child element of the child tax credit by £150 above indexation next year.“This is a £2 billion a year commitment to low income families. And we make it even now, in these difficult times.

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Germany has offered to Pakistan over 31 million euros for sustainable development, infrastructure, health and education and fighting poverty through Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF). This was informed by Dirk Niebel, German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development. He said that after negotiations, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany during the last two years had provided over 54 million euros for various development projects for marginalized communities aimed at income generation and poverty alleviation in Pakistan.

He said that the Germany believed in the improvement of socio-economic conditions of the marginalized segments of Pakistani society, particularly the women, and PPAF was one of the best models to implement schemes for the benefit of the poor communities. He said that it was encouraging to witness an improved level of awareness among rural Pakistani women about their rights and their participation in the development work was also a big positive sign.

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Imagine, if you can, living in a one-room hut with a dirt floor, little or no shelter from the elements, no running water or electricity, in a community that has only dirt roads, no doctors or medical facilities, no police protection, no schools, no employment, where the average annual income is often as little as a dollar a day, starvation and death are constant companions and grinding deprivation is so severe that parents are often forced to sell their children into servitude or prostitution, and infant mortality is extremely high. It’s truly a bleak picture.

Life expectancy in many places is very short, as low as 33.2 years in some parts of Africa (where AIDS has taken a devastating toll), compared to the low 80s elsewhere around the world.

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Oppressed by war and poverty for generations, the Sudanese have struggled with terrible hardships. But the people of this vast country have a narrow window of hope to achieve progress by ridding both their nation and the world of a horrible disease forever.

With support from The Carter Center and others in one small targeted area where cases remain, Sudan - the last stand for Guinea worm disease - could quickly eliminate this parasitic infection contracted from contaminated drinking water.

Guinea worm victims endure the horror of a thin worm, up to 3 feet (1 meter) long, emerging slowly through a burning blister in their skin over the course of about a month after the parasite has incubated inside them for a year. This can be stopped by educating people to filter all drinking water and to stay out of water sources when they have a worm emerging to keep it from discharging new larvae back into the water.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says 78 percent of Zimbabweans are “absolutely poor” and 55 percent of the population lives under the food poverty line. A UNICEF report entitled “Child-Sensitive Social Protection in Zimbabwe” said at least 6.6 million Zimbabweans cannot meet their basic needs and some 3.5 million children are chronically hungry. UNICEF Communications Chief Micaela Marques De Sousa said the report indicates widespread poverty in the country despite the gains achieved since the inclusive government was formed in 2009.

De Sousa told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that there is urgent need for international organizations to pool resources to help Zimbabweans. “Relief agencies need to work closely with the government to tackle these high poverty levels,” she said. World Vision Zimbabwe Director Ellen Tagwireyi said the UNICEF report is on the mark as the country has an unemployment rate of at least 70 percent.

More than a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty, as those in power are more concerned about addressing their vested interests rather than the basic needs of the population, a United Nations report said Tuesday.

"Abuse of power is a key driver of poverty in Afghanistan. Vested interests frequently shape the public agenda, whether in relation to the law, policy or the allocation of resources," said the report compiled by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In the scathing report, the office said that the government is "often unable to deliver basic services such as security, food or shelter" and that rampant corruption added a further challenge to overcoming poverty in the country.

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The Haiti earthquake offers an opportunity to improve the protection of children in a country where they have been routinely abandoned, trafficked and exploited, a senior United Nations official said this week. Susan Bissell, head of child protection at UN children's fund UNICEF said increased attention and funding for Haiti could help transform a troubling landscape for children in the impoverished country.

She pointed to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia's Aceh province as evidence that an emergency can be used as a launch pad for a better child protection system. "We've seen systems strengthened in countries where they were weak before," Bissell said in an interview. "I think it is possible (in Haiti)."

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Pledges worth $5.3 billion were promised Wednesday during an international donors conference held at the United Nations, surpassing expectations, which had hoped for $4 billion. The $5.3 billion will cover reconstruction activities for the next two years in Haiti. The international community pledged a total of $9.9 billion, and the remaining $4.6 billion will come into play after the first reconstruction phase ends. Ban Ki-Moon, head of the United Nations, applauded the donations at a closing press conference, saying.

"The international community has acted unanimously and for the long term. This is the down payment Haiti needs for its wholesale national renewal. It is the way to building back better." Speaking at the fund raising conference Wednesday, Haiti's President Rene Preval appealed to the world saying     "Let us dream of a new Haiti whose fate lies in a new project for a society without exclusion, which has overcome hunger, in which all have access to secure shelter ... (and their) health needs provided."

Haiti aims to become an "emerging country" by 2030, and the IMF seems to think this is possible. The IMF said that Haiti's economy could grow at a decent annual rate, with help from the world. The damage, said Haiti in its reconstruction plan, is colossal.

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