NEW DELHI: A United Nations report has profiled a world that has achieved unprecedented gains against poverty in Asia, but where mothers and children in many parts are still dying from treatable and preventable causes and where half of the developing world lacks access to simple sanitation. According to the Millennium Development Goals Report, 2005, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 130 million worldwide since 1990, even with an overall population growth of more than 800 million in the developing regions since then.

However, these improvements were offset by increases in the number of the extreme poor in other areas, notably sub-Saharan Africa, from 227 million in 1990 to 313 million in 2001. In all, an estimated one billion people — one in five persons in the developing world — still live below the extreme poverty line of a dollar a day in income. For the very poor in sub-Saharan Africa, the average income actually fell, from 62 to 60 cents a day. Still, the decline of the extreme poor, from 28 per cent of the developing world population in 1990 to 21 per cent in 2001, means that the target of cutting the proportion of the very poor by half is expected to be met globally before the target year 2015, if post-1990 trends persist.

The U.N. report, released last week, finds that progress in reducing mortality rates of children and mothers is unacceptable by any reasonable standard. While rapid strides were made from 1960 to 1990 in keeping children in developing countries alive past their fifth birthday, improvement has since slowed down, placing in jeopardy the possibilities of further reducing the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015. Vaccinations and a range of other low-cost prevention and treatment measures could save millions of young lives a year.

Data indicates that fewer women are dying during childbirth in many developing countries, but maternal mortality rates are among those for which it is most difficult to obtain statistics.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |