The Hindu : Front Page : Meltdown puts a brake on MDG: U.N.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 09, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Meltdown puts a brake on MDG: U.N.

Aarti Dhar

Advances in fight against poverty slow down

Contractions in most South Asian countries may devastate jobs
Women remain at a huge disadvantage in job opportunities

NEW DELHI: Major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow down or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises, says a United Nations annual progress report on more than halfway to the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Progress against extreme poverty in South Asia — slower than in most other regions of the world between 1999 and 2005 — is in danger of disappearing altogether under pressure of global economic contraction and lost jobs.

Primary school enrolment

On the brighter side, 11 per cent gains were achieved in primary school enrolment between 2000 and 2007. This is more important for girls who moved up from 84 enrolments per 100 boys in 1999 to 95 in 2007.

Drop in TB cases

There was also a drop in tuberculosis prevalence from 543 cases per 1,00,000 people in 1999 to 268 cases in 2007. Countries in South Asia have largely escaped the increase in hunger rates seen in other parts since 2007. India has even made inroads on hunger. But holding steady against hunger is not a satisfactory option in a region which is second only to the sub-Saharan Africa in the proportion of undernourished people (21 per cent in 2008) and ranks the worst in the proportion of under five-year-olds who are underweight (48 per cent in 2007), points out the report released on Tuesday.

Lags in safe sanitation

South Asia has achieved its MDG target of cutting to half the proportion of people in 1990 without access to water, but is lagging behind in providing access to safe sanitation. From 2006 to 2015, the region will need to more than double the number of people currently using toilets, latrines or other forms of improved sanitation.

Contractions in economic growth in most South Asian countries outside of India are expected to devastate jobs and incomes. Even in the period 1999-2005 — overlapping portions of two economic booms — South Asian countries recorded only a meagre drop in extreme poverty rates from 42 to 39 per cent.

Despite the gains for girls in primary school enrolment, South Asian women are at a huge disadvantage in job opportunities. Only 19 per cent of paid jobs, outside of agricultural employment, are held by women. Moreover, maternal health conditions remain dismal. Scant reductions in maternal mortality still leave an estimated rate of 490 deaths per 1,00,000 livebirths, says the report.

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

Front Page