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Universal Health Coverage Beyond 2015

A new movement of global leaders is urging the United Nations to include universal health coverage in the next round of goals for economic development, just as similar reforms are up for discussion in the United States. This United Nations statement, signed by 15 global civil society organizations, urges UN countries to include healthcare in post-Millennium Development Goals.

Health coverage rates in the United States are already significantly higher than those in most developing countries, where coverage is sometimes below 10 percent. Because of this, nearly a billion people worldwide are unable to obtain modern healthcare and 100 million people every year are forced into poverty by out-of-pocket expenses.

The above figures exemplify the growing need for universal health coverage, which is constantly pushing people from all over the world into poverty. Without these expenses covered, it will be nearly impossible to end extreme poverty.

“Universal health coverage can bring the global health community together,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a special adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on the Millennium Development Goals. “UHC is where all diseases come together, all countries have primary health systems, all ages and all classes have care.”

With the current government shutdown in the United States over the Affordable Care Act, it is easy to see how monumental the issue of universal health coverage truly is. Perhaps the first step should be in the United States, and the next step, the entire global system. Health is a universal right, and in working towards a poverty-free future, it is undoubtedly the place to begin.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: all Africa, New York Times, PawNation
Photo: Sunday Times UK

Belize Accuses Wealthy Nations of Abandoning Goal 8

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On September 30, Foreign Minister Wilfred Erlington of Belize reprimanded developed countries for abandoning goal eight of the Millennium Development Goals– a global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals were agreed upon by world leaders at a UN Summit in 2000, aiming to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty through eight different steps by 2015. The United Nations and many developed countries have been criticized for their apparent slack in achievement.

“We note with disappointment, that the rich countries have not even been able to bring themselves to honor their commitment to contribute even the 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product as official domestic assistance to poor countries,” said Mr. Erlington.

In terms of other assistance, the resources being provided by the international community, other financial institutions and private donors are not nearly enough of what is needed by poor countries to attain the Millennium Development Goals. Now, 13 years later, only a minority of countries are proving successful in attaining the Goals. Unfortunately, the vast majority shows very few signs of development.

Pressure has continually been put on the developed countries to finally step up, once and for all, and put their best foot forward. The battle against global poverty cannot be fought without their leadership, and it is a constant source of frustration for many of the developing nations.

Alva Romanus Baptise, Minister of external fairs of Saint Lucia stressed that global interdependence demands that “the strong help the weak so that everyone gets strong.” Belize’s expression of this omnipresent issue serves as just one voice for the hundreds of abandoned nations.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: UN News Centre, Scoop
Photo: Caribbean 360

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Pressure on Developed Nations to Contribute More Aid

Leaders have begun to discuss what will replace the Millennium Development Goals once they reach expiration in 2015. Mukhisa Kituyi, the new secretary general of UNCTAD, the UN Trade and Development body, stated that aid-flows from wealthy nations were drying up and that developing economies must contribute more in order to assist the poorer nations.

Kituyi, who took office last month, urged Brazil, China, and other emerging economies to take responsibility for the fight against extreme poverty. “From Brazil to China, while they have shown a willingness to invest in economic infrastructure – the construction of roads, railways, and ports – that capacity should also extend to the construction of social infrastructure,” he said.

There has been constant pressure on developed nations to contribute more aid in both reaching the Millennium Development Goals and ending extreme poverty; however, Kituyi’s call for action represents one of the rare voices asking the developing nations to pay tribute as well.

UNCTAD, which was formed in 1964, is seen as the intellectual counterweight to the World Bank and the IMF, urging even more liberalized trade and deregulated finance. However, in recent years, some of the organization’s staff members are increasingly concerned about Unctad’s future. Kituyi claims that he is determined to boost the organization’s reputation, and is especially concerned in taking part in the formation of what follows the Millennium Development Goals.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: The Guardian, International Development News, News 168
Photo: The Habari Network

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The Importance of Advocacy

Importance of Advocacy in Fighting Poverty
One year, two months, twenty-nine days, and thirteen hours. This is the amount of time until the year 2015. Why is this important? This specific year is when some people believe global poverty will end. This a monumental task to take on within the following two years, and many individuals are wondering if it is even humanly possible.

The answer is yes, this is possible. Several organizations, such as the End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign and the United Nations, believe it is quite possible to see an end to global poverty within the next two years. Yet, to achieve this goal there is a need for advocacy from every single individual within society today. Every individual can make a difference, and with their help the importance of advocacy can be realized by the year 2015.

Many ponder the idea of how they can help. There are numerous ways to help, such as taking on the Citizen Action Challenge, where individuals are called to action to check on their local government’s service delivery to this global cause. All citizens have a right to check on the problems and delays within this delivery, and can report issues to their local government. By doing so, Civil Society holds the government accountable for continuing to send aid and work towards improving lives at an increasing rate. By taking the Citizen Action Challenge, individuals are able to reach out to higher authorities, to scrutinize the slow delivery process of water, the trouble obtaining nutritious food, the access to education, and so on. By reporting on these issues, it helps different governments speed up the process of deliverables to the individuals that need them, and help moves towards the bigger goal of ending global poverty.

Individuals can also help by joining an organization they believe makes a difference. By taking part in a non-profit organization or a business with the goal to help those in need in third world countries, individuals are becoming strong, determined advocates. Within these organizations, individuals can participate by traveling and committing to service work to help those in need, can help establish fundraisers to help the organization of their choice, and can even personally donate funds or resources to the organization.

The End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign stresses that every organization should do its part to help end global poverty. By taking on the challenges of extreme poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, infant mortality, maternal health care, global partnership, and environmental sustainability, it is highly possible to see an end to global poverty issues by 2015. By becoming an advocate and taking part in the fight, the goal becomes closer to reality.

Overall, organizations make a true difference within society by helping those in need within third world countries. Yet, the largest contribution to end global poverty is by getting involved, spreading advocacy, and contributing to causes.

With individual help, it is possible to see global poverty end by 2015.

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Sources: End Poverty, UN MDG, UNRIC, Global Engage
Photo: East Bay Express

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Gender Equality Still an Important Goal

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As the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  rapidly approaches, there is much discussion on the post-2015 MDGs. A coalition of charities and campaign groups plans to ask the leaders at this year’s UN General Assembly to take a holistic approach to ending global poverty.

This holistic approach targets those most vulnerable demographics: women and girls. The coalition argues that by empowering women and girls, the true root causes of poverty will be addressed.

There is concern that the current MDG goal of gender equality will be replaced with a watered-down goal addressing broader inequality concerns. However, the coalition believes that gender equality was a neglected MDG goal the first time around and, therefore, needs to be an area of focus in the post-2015 goals.

Countries with greater gender equality in education and employment have stronger economic growth and human development. Therefore, empowering women and girls creates a stronger country and world. Empowering women and girls will help end world poverty.

Empowering women and girls starts with their physical health. By providing accessible and affordable healthcare, core concerns such as maternal health, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights will be addressed. Currently, the main concerns include the lack of healthcare and sexual and reproductive health services for women, as well as the lack of medical care for their children.

Many women and girls die from inadequate healthcare. By addressing these vital needs, it is estimated that 79,000 maternal deaths, most of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, would be prevented.

Recognizing that mothers sustain and create life, the coalition is urging the Member States to include a goal that focuses explicitly  on gender and equality. According to Tewodros Melesse, the Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), a world with gender equality is a “world of justice, choice, and well being for all.”

Working on the MDGs has provided the world with many lessons. Perhaps the most valuable of these is that progress is likely to be uneven – and at times reversed – if gender equality is not viewed and addressed as a vital goal.

– Caressa Kruth

Sources: News Afrique Informations, The Guardian
Photo: A Nation of Moms

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Failure to Meet Millennium Goals for Women Will Have Lasting Echoes

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Of all the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN, those pertaining to the reproductive health of women seem most likely to be unmet when the 2015 deadline hits. Whatever the other MDG successes, the failure to meet the reasonable objectives set for women should be remembered as a defining symbol of the UN’s ability to get things done in 2015. The issue of reproductive health in and of itself is insufficient to merit that reaction, but it does stand as a weather-vane to all kinds of gender-related issues; it points to a future of injustice.

The Millennium Development Goals in question were meant to achieve universal reproductive health and reduce maternal mortality rates by 75 percent of their 1990 levels. Currently, the rates remain double their intended 2015 targets. As Eva Joly, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, observed, “It is a failure of the fight against poverty…but it is also linked to other questions.”

The “questions” which have stymied progress on the issue are mainly cultural in nature. Throughout the world, for many hundreds or even thousands of years, women have been viewed as an inferior sex, in some times and places ranking below valued animals such as horses. From the spatial organization of public and private spaces and places, the norms of social interaction, and the ratio of economic independence, to acceptable activities, clothing, and even mentality, women have long been the second sex.

In failing to keep its MDGs, the UN is not only harming today and tomorrow’s women biologically, it fails to make any headway in provoking a cultural revolution which will allow women to be recognized as equally valuable human beings.

Such sentiments may be senseless to men living in particularly sexist cultures. Indeed, there is a strong argument to make for abstaining from building a homogenous global culture which, conveniently enough, is predicated on modern, Western values, and sees all deviation from that standard as unhealthy, unjust, and immoral. Cultural diversity makes humanity strong, and those who pine for days of a culturally unified humanity may wish to second-guess some of their assumptions.

But the UN has made it clear that it does not intend to allow some cultures to continue to exist according to their traditional ways if those traditions conflict with what the UN perceives to be universal rights. And in that light, the UN has failed to convince these disparate cultures that the lives of their women are worth the cost to be saved from death or trauma in childbirth.

When 2015 comes around, the UN will doubtlessly celebrate their many achievements, as well they should. The effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals has been well spent, and many of the results from it are incontrovertibly good. But the UN should not forget that in this major arena, it has failed.

– Alex Pusateri

Sources: Euractiv, The Atlantic, AWID
Photo: The Gaurdian

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Accountability in Development Aid

accountability in development aid
According to an article on the Guardian’s website by Thomas Pogge and Mitu Sengupta, two university professors and executives in Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), in order to push forward and meet development goals, concrete tasks must be assigned to specific influential actors and agents in the development community.

In their contribution to the Guardian, the professors state, “To eradicate poverty, we must understand why it persists on such a huge scale in an affluent world.” They go on to assert that only the rich can influence the institutional arrangements which create the large income gap between the rich and poor in the globe.

The current network of supranational laws and obligations is influenced heavily by the wealthiest people and organizations of the world that have enormous “advantages in scale, expertise and political influence,” which enable them to do better than others in the current global state of affairs.

The article calls on the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in September to move beyond the general wishes and goals that the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) consist of by naming specific actors as responsible for specific tasks, and calling for systemic reforms of the global institutions which contribute to global poverty.

The “special responsibilities,” which the UN high-level panel on development attributed to developed countries, should be clearly and concretely defined and those not living up to them should be held accountable, according to the professors.

It is important to realize that when these two professors talk about the wealthiest people in the world having influence, they are including American citizens. Living in a democratic country that has a spending budget of $3.8 trillion for the 2013 fiscal year, citizens of the U.S. have significant influence in the fight against poverty, especially considering that official estimates put the cost of eradicating global poverty at only $30 billion.

The biggest obstacle to accountability in development aid and poverty eradication is leadership from Congress and White House. The best way to create that leadership in a democratic society is by designating responsibility, as the authors continually state. U.S. politicians should be accountable for their foreign aid decisions. This can be done through the voting process, of course, but also can be done by contacting legislators and informing them of how important poverty eradication is to their constituents and to U.S. strategic interests.

It is unlikely that the UNGA will assign specific tasks to specific players in the developed world, given the political nature of the organization. But, on a small scale level, the citizens of the wealthiest country on earth—and the agenda setter for the developed world—have the influence to fight global poverty effectively.

– Martin Drake

Sources: The Guardian, US Government Spending, The Borgen Project
Photo: UN

LifeSpring: Bringing Hope and Health to Indian Mothers and Newborns

LifeSpring
Considering that the reduction of the child mortality rate is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it seems that with recent awareness towards public health concerns in India growing, this goal may actually become a reality in the country. India boasts the highest child mortality rate in the world, as well as the highest rate of maternal deaths globally, with the latter standing at one death every 10 minutes. Because of this, Acumen Fund, a U.S. nonprofit organization, and Indian multi-product company HLL Lifecare Limited have teamed up to create LifeSpring, a network of maternity and child healthcare hospitals that provide maternal health services to lower-income Indian families at affordable prices. In April 2010, LifeSpring became the first chain of healthcare providers to join the Business Call to Action, a global leadership effort for companies with core business initiatives to commit to meeting the MDGs. LifeSpring specifically has committed to the fifth and least progressive MDG, which focuses on decreasing the maternal death rate by 75 percent. LifeSpring opened up their first hospital in 2005, just outside the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in Moula Ali, and since then has grown to become the largest chain of maternity hospitals in South India. The hospital chain boasts nine small hospitals throughout Hyderabad with plans to expand to 30 hospitals located in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad by 2017. Due to poor health, unsafe home births, and scarce access to quality healthcare, lower-income Indian women often face damaging risks during pregnancy. In fact, more than 100,000 pregnancy-related deaths occur annually in India. Most of these deaths are preventable if a sufficient and standardized level of care is given. However, finding quality healthcare in India can be difficult for poorer individuals. The free healthcare provided to pregnant women and newborns in public hospitals lacks efficiency, transparency, and quality services. For these reasons, many Indian women choose to deliver at private hospitals, but often have to take out loans to finance the delivery. LifeSpring has become a successful alternative to this double-edged sword that exists in the public health system in India. Using a market-based approach of keeping healthcare prices low by cutting costs on infrastructure and using midwives instead of doctors, LifeSpring has been able to provide quality and affordable services to expectant mothers and newborn babies in India. The small chain of hospitals actually offers lower-income mothers the same healthcare and delivery services found at private hospitals at rates 30 to 50 percent lower than market prices. In addition to caring for the mothers during their deliveries, LifeSpring also offers prenatal and postnatal healthcare services, along with offering free vaccinations to babies at its Moula Ali hospital. The organization also engages in community outreach programs in which outreach workers and nurses go door to door within LifeSpring communities and follow up with new mothers and their newborns. – Elisha-Kim Desmangles Sources: LifeSpring, UNDP, India Today, Acumen, Forbes India Photo: Acumen

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How to Prevent Poverty

How to Prevent Poverty
Understanding how to prevent poverty has been an issue of great concern both in the United States and across the globe. Countries like the U.S., in a position to prevent poverty in less developed nations, are particularly interested in determining the causes of poverty in order to effectively alleviate poverty at home and abroad. By understanding what it is that leads to impoverishment in specific communities and countries, poverty reduction efforts are more likely to prevent poverty all over the world.

Though poverty and extreme poverty, as terms, have been defined as living under a certain dollar amount per day, what causes poverty is often much more complicated. The World Bank defines global poverty as a pronounced and multidimensional deprivation in wellbeing. That is, what it is to be considered poor or impoverished depends on a number of different conditions and factors that vary from community to community. For example, one family may have the dollar amount sufficient to feed itself but lack adequate access to education or water.

Because poverty represents such a wide variety of conditions, how to prevent poverty is an issue that requires a complex understanding of the circumstances in which one is working. Not only that, effective poverty prevention and reduction strategies will necessarily include either a multidimensional approach or take place in a network of projects that strive to prevent or reduce poverty on various levels. For instance, Plan Canada, a Canadian-based charity organization founded in 1937, takes a five-step approach in its strategy to prevent poverty worldwide.

 

Plan Canada’s Tools for How to Prevent Poverty

 

  • Education – Providing a quality education to children will create positive change in a child’s life.
  • Healthcare – Adequate access to healthcare is essential to ensuring health and wellness.
  • Water and Sanitation – Prevention of disease in communities is largely dependent on adequate facilities.
  • Economic Security – Though economic growth is not required, economic security provides families with sufficient stability to count on a consistent family income.
  • Child Participation – Helping children learn their rights and engage in civic duties sets the foundation for a strong community.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that slower population growth and investments in reproductive health and HIV prevention, as well as women’s empowerment and gender equality are also important steps toward preventing poverty. In fact, the UNFPA considers universal access to reproductive health information and services to be an “essential” condition to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

How to end poverty is a complicated question, but significant research like that taken to synthesize the reports discussed above suggests that it is not an impossible question to answer. Quite the contrary, there are thousands of organizations across the globe working on just that question every day. Collaborative and coordinated efforts, in recognition of the diverse causes of poverty, will no doubt win the day. In the meantime, these strategies continue to develop in scope and sophistication.

– Herman Watson

Sources: The Borgen Project, Plan Canada, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund
Photo: Soda Head

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Economic and Social Council Focuses on Science

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The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) kicked off its annual forum at the start of this month, focusing on the importance of science and innovation to achieve development goals. The top UN officials, who were in attendance at the forum, stressed that technology and science are crucial for tackling todays global challenges, from reducing poverty to ensuring sustainable development. Some of the key speakers on the first day of this forum were ECOSOC president, Ambassador Nestor Osorio of Columbia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and President of the UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic.

“The steadily increasing pace of technological innovation makes ours an era of a long profound change…So many fields of human endeavor – medicine, energy, agriculture – have made significant, even drastic, improvements in just a few generations. Yet in the field of development, despite our progress, there are still over one billion people living in extreme poverty. And tonight many, if not most, will go to bed hungry,” said Osorio.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of science and innovation as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) come to a close in 2015. While some of the MDGs have already been met, there are several that need extra attention if the international community wishes to achieve them by 2015. “We must intensify out efforts, particularly to tackle the disparities across regions and between social groups…the future we want is within reach. Let us innovate together to achieve it,” stated Ki-moon.

Finally, Vuk Jeremic, President of the UN General Assembly, spoke about the need for a renewed commitment from Member States to face these development challenges together. He urged for a revitalized General Assembly and a renewed ECOSOC to lead the UN in setting the world on a more equitable, prosperous and environmentally sound path.

The ECOSOC forum will last for 26 days, but this assembly on innovation and science will last for four, including several more speeches from world leaders as well as collaboration meetings between several international institutions.

– Catherine Ulrich

Source: UN News, UNOG
Photo: Ventures