In the wake of the G8 in Canada, during which wealthy nations gathered to discuss and pledge their commitments to maternal, newborn, and child health, African leaders met this week in Uganda for the 15th African Union Summit. Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Africa regional director of Partners in Population & Development, gives us his take on the Summit’s discussions and how he sees momentum from the Summit carrying forward into this fall’s MDG Summit in New York City and beyond.
No more excuses. That was the main message coming out of Kampala this past week after the 15th African Union Summit brought African leaders and high-ranking ministers together under the auspices of “maternal, infant and child health and development in Africa.”
In a debate session that lasted more than twice the allotted time, African leaders discussed the critical role of maternal health in moving the African continent forward. Leaders also agreed to renew the Maputo Plan of Action (PDF), a critical framework that ensures the rights and health of women and girls on issues of education, safe abortion, family planning and economic opportunity. Having it signed, in place and ready to be actualized is absolutely imperative.
No more excuses — we must address maternal health and women’s rights issues in Africa. While there has been outstanding leadership on these issues from all over the continent, our maternal health indicators continue to dwindle at the utmost bottom, globally. The vastness of the African continent, coupled with the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the levels of poverty in many parts of our countries mean that the road to improving maternal health could not be harder.
In September of 2000, leaders of the 191 United Nations member countries met in New York City and formulated a plan to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Unanimously, these leaders agreed upon eight comprehensive, holistic, and attainable goals, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If fulfilled, the MDGs will provide the poorest 17% of the world, who live on less than a dollar a day, with the opportunity to attend primary school, access to clean water, better child and maternal healthcare, and a sustainable future.
Since 2002, the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has saved more than five million lives. However, there remains a $1.2 billion dollar shortfall in funding for these life-saving programs. We have a significant amount of ground to cover within the next five years.
As citizens of the United States, we must unite our voices and push our leaders to fulfill the promises they have already made. Thousands of Americans have already stepped up to take action—musician and humanitarian John Legend affirms his commitment to the MDGs here:
Be among those to lend their voice.
Commit in September is a grassroots movement demonstrating young Americans’ passion for global education, health, development in Haiti, and achievement of the UN MDGs. The campaign has been led by students calling out to peers, non-profits, and celebrities. The ONE Campaign, Water.org, Malaria No More, Rainn Wilson, Olivia Wilde, 30 Student Body Presidents and so many others are using their voices on Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word today and through the end of the month.
We know the MDGs are achievable. The most pressing question that remains is whether or not we as Americans will take small steps within our own means, to stand up and do something to end poverty in our time. Will you?
Add your name to grow the youth movement for sutainable international development: www.commitinseptember.com. Thanks for your voice.
Yesterday, Make Poverty History—Canada’s largest coalition of civil society organizations—released a new report that says the country is falling dangerously short of meeting its commitments to the world’s poorest people. As their press release pointed out:
“Canada holds a special place on the world stage. Not only are we hosting the G8 and G20 summits in Canada this month, but, as our Prime Minister rightly reminds us, we are also the G8 nation which best survived the economic crisis. That puts us in an excellent position to lead by example.”
As the report shows, Canada has made impressive progress on several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including hunger reduction and gender equality. But it’s still behind on half of its promises, including universal primary education, maternal health, and foreign aid spending. And if the Canadian government sticks to its recent decision to freeze aid spending, this could jeopardize all 8 MDGs.
The BBC is doing a series looking at Bangladesh and assessing whether it’s on track to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The BBC’s Alastair Lawson has chosen to tell the story by focusing on individuals and their personal circumstances to illustrate how the country is doing broadly.
9 year old Aisha’s story – which looks at the state of primary education in Bangladesh – is particularly powerful. Her parents sacrifice so she can go to school in a country where 3.3. million of her peers are working already. Aisha says, “I want to be a lawyer when I grow up because I have seen so many people go to prison unjustly and I would like to help free them.”
Our friends over at the United Nations Foundation broke some very positive news yesterday: A majority of American voters – 60 percent in fact – believe that the United States should be involved in combating global poverty as part of the Millennium Development Goals.
That’s the highest favorite rating for the UN in five years! Congratulations are in order.
The data, released by the United Nations Foundation and their sister organization the Better World Campaign, indicates that Americans consider access to clean water, children’s health, extreme hunger, and access to education – all issues near and dear to ONE’s heart – to be top priorities that we must address to combat extreme poverty worldwide.
In a statement Wednesday, UN Foundation President Timothy Wirth emphasized that “Confronting an issue like global poverty requires a smart approach to global coordination and the UN is uniquely positioned to provide and deliver global coordination every single day.”
“This new data confirms that Americans recognize that working together with our international partners through the UN is more effective than trying to solve the world’s challenges alone.”
Though the research was chocked full of interesting insights, here are a few key highlights we thought were worth noting:
Two-thirds of Americans – 67 percent, including Democrats, Independents and Republicans– believe the United Nations is still needed today.
Although roughly nine out of ten Americans (89 percent) say they are not familiar with the specifics of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), after hearing a brief description of the eight goals, 87 percent of Americans believe the United States should be “very” or “somewhat” involved in a worldwide effort to accomplish the MDGs by 2015.
The majority of Americans believe seven of the eight MDGs should be an absolute top or high priority to accomplish by 2015, with a particular focus on goals that address the most basic human needs such as access to safe drinking water and alleviating extreme hunger/poverty.
The research, undertaken by a bipartisan polling, surveyed 900 likely voters over four days in early April 2010.
We’re glad to hear that Americans are energized in the fight against extreme poverty around the world and are willing to help us make it a top priority for our government going forward. With five years left to the MDG deadline in 2015, we’ve got some work to do…but it looks like we have some support to make these goals a reality!
The elusive Millennium Development Goals, known affectionately as the MDGs … As a critical force for lifting people out of extreme poverty, what exactly are they all about and why are we trying to accomplish them by 2015? The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) set out to answer these very questions and more at their event Wednesday entitled “The Millennium Development Goals and the United States: A Discussion of the September 2010 MDG Summit.”
Co-sponsored by the University of Miami and moderated by Mariam Atash Nawabi of America Abroad Media, the event featured a distinguished panel of NGO leaders and educators working directly to ensure the MDGs remain a primary focus worldwide through organizations such as the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN).
Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty, kicked off the discussion by calling the MDGs the single most durable set of global development commitments made by governments around the world. And while he stressed that an impressive amount of progress has been made, the remaining six years leading up to 2015 present an even greater opportunity to tackle global poverty and the range of issues that challenge the world’s poorest, particularly in Africa. With the United Nations hosting a global summit on the MDGs this coming September, Shetty also emphasized the importance of direct action, calling for both developed and developing countries to create tangible work plans that build on hard evidence of what has worked (and what hasn’t) over the past decade. President Obama already pledged that the U.S. would come to the Summit equipped “with a global plan to make the MDGs a reality,” which Shetty called a crucial first step for America to begin taking leadership leading up to 2015.
A common thread that ran throughout the discussion was the importance of communicating exactly what the MDGs are to both the American public and those in developing countries – two diverse and challenging dilemmas with the same goal of making the MDGs tangible to those who truly care about the ultimate outcome. Interestingly, the American public in particular, often overestimates exactly how much money is given in foreign assistance each year, which can sometimes make it difficult to rally support for the MDGs. To put it into perspective, here’s an interesting statistic: The total amount given as bailouts over the last year is an estimated $18 trillion. Cumulative aid over the past 49 years amounts to approximated $2 trillion.
Not to be boastful, but ONE received two shout-outs from panelists as an advocacy organization taking innovative strides toward making the MDGs more accessible to the American public! There’s definitely more to come as we make our way (perhaps too quickly, it’s almost May!) toward the summit in September.
The discussion was part of a series of dialogues on the most pressing global issues of our time, known collectively as “Our Global Challenges.” To learn more about the monthly series and upcoming events, check out CSIS’s website here.
This morning I attended a “media roundtable” at the United Nations Millennium Campaign. Salil Shetty, Director of the UN Millennium Campaign and Anita Sharma, North American Coordinator for the UN Millennium Campaign spoke at length about the Millennium Development Goals, progress made over the last 10 years, and how bloggers and media can play key roles in the upcoming G8/G20 Summits in Canada, and the UN MDG Review Summit in NYC this September.
The alerted us to a website they built in anticipation of September’s MDG Summit. I highly recommend it. You’ll find up-to-date info and breaking news, as well as some helpful background (click the screen grab below to check it out). September’s Summit will be a huge moment in the history of the Millennium Development Goals and key to determining how much progress we’ll make to achieving those goals before 2015.
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