Policy

Health

5,500 people die from HIV and AIDS every day

HIV and AIDS is a major public health challenge undermining development in the world’s poorest countries. It’s a tragedy that affects individuals, their families, their communities and the countries they live in.

Around 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, 95% of whom live in developing countries. In many of these developing countries health care systems are overwhelmed by a growing number of HIV/AIDS patients. Millennium Development Goal 6 aims to have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015.

Find out more at:
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/aids/
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf

Malaria kills over 1 million people annually, 80 per cent of whom are children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa

The world has known how to beat malaria for more than a century, yet it still claims more than a million lives a year. Malaria kills a child in Africa every minute. Many children who survive may suffer from learning impairments or brain damage. Pregnant women and their unborn children are also particularly vulnerable – malaria is the major cause of low birth weight, maternal anaemia, and deaths among new mothers and babies.

Find out more at:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf
http://www.malarianomore.org
http://www.endpoverty2015.org
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf

In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s risk of dying from treatable or preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth over the course of her lifetime is 1 in 22, compared to 1 in 7,300 in the developed regions

In the world’s wealthier countries, the birth of a child is a happy event. In poorer countries, the day a child born is all too often the day its mother dies.

The causes of death are often complex and interconnected. They include: poor health before pregnancy; inadequate, inaccessible or unaffordable health care; and poor hygiene and care during childbirth. Socioeconomic and cultural factors also contribute – illiteracy, poverty, women’s unequal access to resources, and their lack of decision-making power in families and societies.

Most maternal deaths could be prevented, as could the deaths of at least 1.5 million infants each year, and millions of cases of disease and disability. All that is required is access to information and basic health services.

Find out more at:
http://www.malarianomore.org/malaria.php
http://www.nothingbutnets.net
http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf

Education

72 million children are denied an education worldwide

Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, too many children in the world today grow up without this chance; because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school.

Quality education for all is achievable. It is:
• A universal human right;
• The key to reducing poverty and sustainable human development;
• A core responsibility of the state – governments just need to mobilise political will and available resources.

Find out more at:
http://www.campaignforeducation.org
http://www.endpoverty2015.org
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf

Food

Food prices have risen 83 per cent since 2005

This resulting food-price crisis is an unprecedented threat to the livelihoods and health of millions of poor families who have to spend most of their income – often less than US$1 a day – on food.

Women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable, as they undertake 80 per cent of agricultural production, and are almost entirely responsible for feeding their families. As families cut back on meals, it is women who deprive themselves to ensure that men and children are fed first.

With the increase in food prices, about 1 billion people go hungry, while at least another estimated 2 billion are undernourished. The food price spikes are believed to have pushed over 100 million more people into extreme poverty. Food riots are happening across the world, and the spectre of widespread hunger exists in Ethiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya, with worsening problems elsewhere.

Governments and donors must deliver more immediate assistance to people suffering from food shortages, invest in agriculture and social protection and deliver policies that will end the food crisis and achieve the MDGs.

Find out more at:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/media/downloads/foodpricesapril2008.pdf
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/commiting.pdf