Initiatives worth $40 billion don’t often go unnoticed, so you may have seen that on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health (PDF), a plan designed to accelerate progress toward Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by galvanizing global commitments around a comprehensive plan. The Secretary-General’s office announced that the commitments made so far will: (more…)
Here are a handful of articles we rounded up about this weekend’s G20 summit:
The Economist looks at this weekend’s G20 meeting, saying that while the rules of the global financial system cannot be rewritten in a five-hour powwow, some useful things can come out of the meeting, such as commitments on trade and on reforming the IMF.
Ban Ki-moon has appealed to leaders meeting at a financial summit in Washington this weekend not to let the global crisis become a “human tragedy” for people in poor countries. In a letter to leaders of the G20 Ban said, “The poorest and most vulnerable everywhere, but particularly in the developing countries, will be the most affected” by the world growth slowdown now being predicted. We need most of all to join forces to take immediate action to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a human tragedy.”
In Great Britain, Gordon Brown has called for a new international financial architecture, citing the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 as an example. The Bretton Woods agreement, which resulted in the creation of the IMF and World Bank, is particularly relevant today as we address the “need for global policy co-ordination in tackling” this financial crisis.
The New York Times editorial board today examines some of the challenges that confront the G20 during America’s presidential transition. The Times champions the need for all the participating 20 of the world’s leading economies to reach fundamental agreements as a platform to “begin a serious discussion about the roots of the financial crisis and set the stage for future meetings to discuss substantive reforms.”
Earlier today, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that if the G8 does not rapidly increase its development assistance to Africa, it risks breaking its promise to double aid to the continent by 2010. Annan spoke on behalf of the Africa Progress Panel, a group of experts and prominent spokespeople brought together in 2006 by Tony Blair and the Commission for Africa to ensure that promises to the continent are kept and progress is monitored. In its annual report launched in London today, the panel found that despite progress on debt relief and significant increases in assistance by individual countries, Africa faces a $40 billion funding shortfall of the aid it was promised by the G8 in 2005. The report also makes recommendations on how G8 and African governments can address the issues of rising food prices and climate change, and outlines policies that are needed to expand African trade and boost investments in infrastructure.
The launch comes less than a month before the annual G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan. This year’s summit marks the midpoint to 2010, the target date for the delivery of the G8′s historic promise to double aid to Africa. This Wednesday, ONE is launching its own annual report on the G8′s progress towards meeting its commitments to Africa. The “DATA Report” looks at the collective G8 promise to double aid by 2010 and also examines progress the G8 has made towards fulfilling other commitments, such as providing universal access to HIV treatment, supporting universal primary education and making trade work for Africa. The DATA Report also includes in-depth analyses of how each G8 country is doing in delivering their individual promises to Africa. Stay tuned here for coverage of Wednesday’s launch in Paris and an analysis of the findings and what they mean to the fight against global poverty.
“In a video message for a World Malaria Day event at U.N. headquarters, Ban said the initiative will offer indoor spraying and bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide “to all people at risk, especially women and children in Africa.” The video was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
It will also ensure that public health facilities have access to effective malaria treatment and diagnosis, that health workers are trained to deal with the disease, and that research into its eradication is encouraged, Ban said.
Ban said he wants these measures in place in just a few years. “The aim is to put a stop to malaria deaths by ensuring universal coverage by the end of 2010.”
The secretary-general said that several African countries “have made dramatic strides in malaria control, but the most affected nations remain off track to reach the goal of halting and reversing the incidence of the disease.”
“That is why today, together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, I am putting forward a bold but achievable vision,” Ban said.”
Yesterday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced 2008 the “Year of Sanitation” and urged the world to increase investment in providing clean water and sanitation throughout the world.
“Investing approximately $10 billion per year can halve the proportion of people without basic sanitation by 2015,” [the U.N. statement] said.
The U.N.’s drive for better sanitation will involve regional conferences and public campaigns to raise awareness and implement projects to improve sanitation in developing countries through public and private partnerships.
UK-based charity WaterAid said the absence of clean toilet facilities, access to safe water and efficient sanitation was directly related to the spread of diseases that killed 1.8 million children a year.
It estimated the economic cost of not investing in sanitation and clean water at $38 million a year resulting from infant deaths, lost work days and school absences due to disease.”
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
