With nearly 800 million people unable to read or write, the United Nations today marked International Literacy Day with a warning that illiteracy undermines efforts to eliminate a host of social ills such as poverty and sickness and threatens the very stability of nations.
“The costs are enormous,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message. “Illiteracy exacerbates cycles of poverty, ill-health and deprivation. It weakens communities and undermines democratic processes through marginalization and exclusion. These and other impacts can combine to destabilize societies.”
This year’s Day is being commemorated under the theme “Literacy and Peace.”
Mr. Ban noted that despite progress, illiteracy continues to afflict millions of people, especially women and girls. In 2009, roughly two thirds of the world’s estimated 793 million illiterate adults were female. That same year, some 67 million primary school-aged children and 72 million adolescents were denied their right to an education, he added.
“Literacy unlocks the capacity of individuals to imagine and create a more fulfilling future. It opens the way to greater justice, equality and progress. Literacy can help societies heal, advance political processes and contribute to the common good,” he declared.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) noted that more than half the adults in 11 countries are illiterate. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
“The world urgently needs increased political commitment to literacy backed by adequate resources to scale up effective programmes,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a message.
“Today I urge governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector to make literacy a policy priority, so that every individual can develop their potential, and actively participate in shaping more sustainable, just and peaceful societies.”
In a ceremony in New Delhi, UNESCO awarded the international Confucius and King Sejong literacy prizes, financed respectively by China and the Republic of Korea, to projects in Burundi, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the United States. King Sejong promulgated the native alphabet of the Korean language in the mid-15th century.
The National Literacy Service of Burundi won one of the two UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes for its innovative approach to linking functional literacy to daily life issues and to topics related to peace and tolerance, as well as for its overall impact. From 2010 to 2011 alone, the service presented more than 50,000 certificates to new readers.
The other UNESCO King Sejong Prize went to the National Institute for the Education of Adults of Mexico, for its bilingual literacy programme, which has helped reduce illiteracy among indigenous peoples, especially women, and improved their ability to exercise their rights.
The US-based Room to Read won one of the UNESCO Confucius Prizes for Literacy for its programme, Promoting Gender Equality and Literacy through Local Language Publishing. Operating in nine countries – Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and Zambia ¬ it has assisted communities in the development of culturally relevant reading materials in local and minority languages.
The second UNESCO Confucius Prize laureate was the Collectif Alpha Ujuvi in the DRC for its programme, Peaceful Coexistence of Communities and Good Governance in North Kivu, using an innovative model for preventing and resolving tensions and conflicts among individuals and communities.
Each of the four prizes carries a $20,000 award.
In connection with the Day, UNESCO and Procter & Gamble’s Always feminine care brand launched a partnership to promote literacy for young girls and young women. “A major world corporation like Procter & Gamble can give added impetus to our drive for global literacy,” Ms. Bokova said.
The first project under the partnership concerns girls’ literacy in Senegal where, in 2006, fewer than 45 per cent of women could read or write. Educational kits and digital resources will be made available to train and support more than 1,200 teachers who will devote 600 hours of literacy and life skills teaching to girls.
Two facts illustrate the importance of improving literacy among girls: HIV/AIDS spreads twice as fast among illiterate girls and women; and a baby born to a literate mother has a 50 per cent better chance of living to the age of five than one born to an illiterate woman.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39485&Cr=literacy&Cr1=
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Efforts of UN-led global anti-malaria partnership save a million lives in a decade
Global malaria deaths have dropped by about 38 per cent over the past decade, saving the lives of more than one million people, mostly children, through the efforts of a United Nations-led global partnership that put emphasis on prevention and treatment, particularly the use of insecticide-treated nets, according to a report unveiled today.
Some 43 countries, 11 of them in Africa, have seen malaria cases or deaths drop by 50 or more, according to the report by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) entitled “A Decade of Partnership and Results.”
With approximately $5 billion mobilized in a decade, coverage has risen across all interventions to prevent and treat malaria, especially the insecticide-treated nets used to prevent people from being bitten by the mosquitoes infected with the malaria-causing parasite.
Enough nets have been distributed to cover nearly 80 per cent of the population at risk in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the RBM report.
At a news conference to launch the report at UN Headquarters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned that more remains to be done.
“Although the successes of recent years are remarkable, they need to be sustained and expanded, to prevent the disease from resurging. That is why our future goals are even more ambitious – near-zero deaths by 2015 and the elimination of malaria in 10 additional countries.
“The international community needs to go beyond business as usual, and all sectors of society will have a role to play – governments, international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers and health professionals, businesses and philanthropies, celebrities and ordinary individuals,” said Mr. Ban.
According to the report, it is expected that all countries in the UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) European Region will have eliminated malaria by 2015.
Roughly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that killed almost 800,000 people in 2009, primarily young children and pregnant women. Over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where the disease also costs the continent an estimated $12 billion annually in lost productivity.
Awa-Marie Coll-Seck, the Executive Director of RBM, stressed that fighting malaria is crucial to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the eight social development targets that aim to slash hunger and poverty, maternal and infant mortality, a host of diseases and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.
“The return on investment in malaria control and elimination is high,” Ms. Coll-Seck told the news conference. “Malaria control is one of the greatest health interventions and accelerates progress [towards] several UN Millennium Development Goals.”
She also cautioned that while the achievement in rolling back malaria has been remarkable, it remains fragile.
“We cannot afford to let the gains we have made to slip away. We need to sustain the universal coverage where we have [had] success and increase availability and access of diagnostics and treatments, particularly in high burden endemic countries,” Ms. Coll-Seck said, adding that it is critical that financial commitments be maintained and funding gaps be closed.
Geeta Rao Gupta, the Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), also underlined the need to consolidate and sustain the successes in the fight against malaria.
“We must continue to integrate malaria interventions with maternal and child health interventions, distributing bed nets at routine maternal and child health contact points,” she said.
International funding for malaria has seen a more than 15-fold increase since 2003, jumping from $100 million to $1.5 billion annually in 2010.
Malaria prevention and treatment benefited from the development of new, more effective drugs, rapid diagnostic tests and long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, all of which did not exist 10 years ago. Other products to combat the disease are under research or development, including a possible vaccine, according to RBM.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39536&Cr=malaria&Cr1=
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Some 43 countries, 11 of them in Africa, have seen malaria cases or deaths drop by 50 or more, according to the report by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) entitled “A Decade of Partnership and Results.”
With approximately $5 billion mobilized in a decade, coverage has risen across all interventions to prevent and treat malaria, especially the insecticide-treated nets used to prevent people from being bitten by the mosquitoes infected with the malaria-causing parasite.
Enough nets have been distributed to cover nearly 80 per cent of the population at risk in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the RBM report.
At a news conference to launch the report at UN Headquarters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned that more remains to be done.
“Although the successes of recent years are remarkable, they need to be sustained and expanded, to prevent the disease from resurging. That is why our future goals are even more ambitious – near-zero deaths by 2015 and the elimination of malaria in 10 additional countries.
“The international community needs to go beyond business as usual, and all sectors of society will have a role to play – governments, international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers and health professionals, businesses and philanthropies, celebrities and ordinary individuals,” said Mr. Ban.
According to the report, it is expected that all countries in the UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) European Region will have eliminated malaria by 2015.
Roughly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that killed almost 800,000 people in 2009, primarily young children and pregnant women. Over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where the disease also costs the continent an estimated $12 billion annually in lost productivity.
Awa-Marie Coll-Seck, the Executive Director of RBM, stressed that fighting malaria is crucial to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the eight social development targets that aim to slash hunger and poverty, maternal and infant mortality, a host of diseases and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.
“The return on investment in malaria control and elimination is high,” Ms. Coll-Seck told the news conference. “Malaria control is one of the greatest health interventions and accelerates progress [towards] several UN Millennium Development Goals.”
She also cautioned that while the achievement in rolling back malaria has been remarkable, it remains fragile.
“We cannot afford to let the gains we have made to slip away. We need to sustain the universal coverage where we have [had] success and increase availability and access of diagnostics and treatments, particularly in high burden endemic countries,” Ms. Coll-Seck said, adding that it is critical that financial commitments be maintained and funding gaps be closed.
Geeta Rao Gupta, the Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), also underlined the need to consolidate and sustain the successes in the fight against malaria.
“We must continue to integrate malaria interventions with maternal and child health interventions, distributing bed nets at routine maternal and child health contact points,” she said.
International funding for malaria has seen a more than 15-fold increase since 2003, jumping from $100 million to $1.5 billion annually in 2010.
Malaria prevention and treatment benefited from the development of new, more effective drugs, rapid diagnostic tests and long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, all of which did not exist 10 years ago. Other products to combat the disease are under research or development, including a possible vaccine, according to RBM.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39536&Cr=malaria&Cr1=
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UN, others express concern as poverty ravages the world
Have you ever heard about ‘the Man, who cries for food?’ If you have not, then, you had better ask those living in Alaba or Ajangbadi areas of Lagos. The man wakes the residents of the area from their sleep with his passionate cry for food. You could hear his voice along Ojo/Egbede Road, breaking the silence of dawn with his repeated cry in Igbo: “Agu egbuo m! agu egbuo m!” (Hunger has killed me! Hunger has killed me).
The man, who is in his early 30s, appears healthy and normal but the pangs of poverty and extreme hunger have turned him into a pauper. Those who know him quite well insist he’s not deranged as widely speculated but is rather a victim of poverty foisted on hapless Nigerians by some unscrupulous individuals.
Worried by the degrading standard of living of millions of people, the United Nations agreed on the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000, to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, improve health and education, empower women and ensure environmental sustainability by 2015.
Not much has changed since the introduction of the MGDs. In Nigeria, for instance, increasing number of people, including able-bodied men, youths, widows, physically challenged people, nursing mothers and children mooch the busy streets daily, craning their eyes for a pittance from compassionate fellows. Across major streets in urban centres, communities of beggars, mostly women and children, compete for space on the streets.
Access to basic education has not attained the desired target. An estimated 32 million out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of them face the brawls of hard life on the streets while 43 million people worldwide are displaced because of crisis or persecution in their home countries.
The ugly face of misery looms everywhere, with shocking revelations of a bleak future. Reports indicate that people receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV or AIDS increased by 13-fold from 2004 to 2009. In 2009 alone, 33.3 million people were living with the virus, which translated to a 27 per cent increase over 1999. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region, accounting for 69 per cent of new HIV infections, 68 per cent of all people living with HIV and 72 per cent of AIDS death in the world. All these challenges have made the world a joyless adventure for innumerable number of people.
Worst affected is the African continent, with the infamous toga of the world’s poorest where millions of people live in desperation and deprivation of basic essentials. According to the 2009 United Nations Millennium Development Goals report, in 1990, the baseline year for the MDGs, about 57 per cent of the population of Africa was living in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.25 a day.
It is in Africa that the cyclone of poverty has left its worst devastation. For instance, in 2009, 22 of 24 nations identified as having “Low Human Development” on the United Nations’ Human Development Index were located in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, 34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries were equally in Africa. In many nations, GDP per capita is less than $200 per year, with the vast majority of the population living on much less. In addition, Africa’s share of income has been consistently dropping over the past century by any measure.
In 1820, the average European worker earned about three times what the average African did. Now, the average European earns 20 times what the average African does. Although GDP per capita income in Africa has also been steadily growing, measures are still far better in other parts of the world. Over $500 billion (U.S.) has been sent to African nations in the form of direct aid. Aid to developing countries reached a record high in 2010 but only $11billion has been received out of the $25 billion increase promised to sub-Saharan Africa at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit.
The scourge of poverty has not reduced, even after 10 years since world leaders established goals and targets to free humanity from its strangulating grips. At the September 2010 MDG summit, world leaders put forward an ambitious action plan -a roadmap, outlining what was needed to meet the lofty goal of eradicating poverty by 2015.
The MDG Report 2011 was recently released by the United Nations at Geneva. The report, an annual assessment of regional progress towards the goals, reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 25 UN and international agencies. The report quoted the International Labour Organisation as saying “one in five workers and their families worldwide are living in extreme poverty (on less than $1.25 per person per day).” The UN Secretary, Ban Kin-Moon, noted that too many people are “anxious, angry and hurting. They fear for their jobs, their families, their futures. World leaders must show not only that they care, but that they have the courage and conviction to act,” he said.
This call for action became more expedient with the high number of hungry people worldwide. According to the report, the proportion of people in the developing world who went hungry in 2005-2007 remained stable at 16 per cent, despite significant reductions in extreme poverty. Based on this trend and in the light of the economic crisis and rising food prices, the United Nations would find it difficult to meet the hunger-reduction target.
Details of the MDGs report revealed that robust growth in the first half of the decade reduced the number of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day from 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005. At the same time, the corresponding poverty rate dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent. Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the MDG target of eradicating poverty and hunger could be met.
However, the fastest growth and sharpest reductions in poverty are found in Eastern Asia, particularly in China, where the poverty rate is expected to fall to under five per cent by 2015. Projections for sub-Saharan Africa, based on economic growth performance and forecast trends, indicate that extreme poverty in the region is expected to fall below 36 per cent.
Despite the daunting challenges in achieving the goals, Ban Ki-Moon said the MDGs have helped to lift millions of people out of poverty as well as save lives and increase enrolment in schools. He said achieving the goals would require equitable and inclusive economic growth that reaches everyone and that will enable all people, especially the poor and marginalised, to benefit from economic opportunities.
“They have reduced maternal deaths, expanded opportunities for women, increased access to clean water and freed many people from deadly and debilitating disease. At the same time, the report shows that we still have a long way to go in empowering women and girls, promoting sustainable development and protecting the most vulnerable from the devastating effects of multiple crises, be they conflicts, natural disasters or volatility in prices of food and energy,” he said.
At the United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, various civil societies, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders joined the rest of the world to discuss global progress, in line with the Nigerian situation. The forum, which was anchored by the Deputy Head, UN System in Lagos, Dr. Charles Korir, had in attendance Dr. Omolaso Omosehin, the Head, UNFPA, Lagos, Mrs. Yemisi Ransome-Kuti of Nigerian Network of NGOs, Dr Isaac Aladeloye, Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF, Lagos, Mrs Josephine Smith, Head of Office, UNHCR, Lagos, Mrs Olajumoke Araba, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, among others.
Although, Korir and other speakers noted the appreciable progress made by the country towards achieving some of the goals, global partnership and urgent action were recommended to drive such reforms. Mrs. Ransome-Kuti said Nigeria faced daunting challenges in achieving both the MDGs and the Vision 20:20. She blamed the increasing poverty in the country on corrupt leadership, while arguing that spending 75 per cent of the budget on current expenditure in the country wouldn’t allow for meaningful development policies for the interest of other citizens.
“We have to address the issues of funding, transparency and accountability, particularly at the local government level. Unless we lock up some corrupt people, it is going to be business as usual,” she warned.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2011/sept/14/citysun-14-09-2011-003.html
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The man, who is in his early 30s, appears healthy and normal but the pangs of poverty and extreme hunger have turned him into a pauper. Those who know him quite well insist he’s not deranged as widely speculated but is rather a victim of poverty foisted on hapless Nigerians by some unscrupulous individuals.
Worried by the degrading standard of living of millions of people, the United Nations agreed on the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000, to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, improve health and education, empower women and ensure environmental sustainability by 2015.
Not much has changed since the introduction of the MGDs. In Nigeria, for instance, increasing number of people, including able-bodied men, youths, widows, physically challenged people, nursing mothers and children mooch the busy streets daily, craning their eyes for a pittance from compassionate fellows. Across major streets in urban centres, communities of beggars, mostly women and children, compete for space on the streets.
Access to basic education has not attained the desired target. An estimated 32 million out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of them face the brawls of hard life on the streets while 43 million people worldwide are displaced because of crisis or persecution in their home countries.
The ugly face of misery looms everywhere, with shocking revelations of a bleak future. Reports indicate that people receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV or AIDS increased by 13-fold from 2004 to 2009. In 2009 alone, 33.3 million people were living with the virus, which translated to a 27 per cent increase over 1999. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region, accounting for 69 per cent of new HIV infections, 68 per cent of all people living with HIV and 72 per cent of AIDS death in the world. All these challenges have made the world a joyless adventure for innumerable number of people.
Worst affected is the African continent, with the infamous toga of the world’s poorest where millions of people live in desperation and deprivation of basic essentials. According to the 2009 United Nations Millennium Development Goals report, in 1990, the baseline year for the MDGs, about 57 per cent of the population of Africa was living in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.25 a day.
It is in Africa that the cyclone of poverty has left its worst devastation. For instance, in 2009, 22 of 24 nations identified as having “Low Human Development” on the United Nations’ Human Development Index were located in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, 34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries were equally in Africa. In many nations, GDP per capita is less than $200 per year, with the vast majority of the population living on much less. In addition, Africa’s share of income has been consistently dropping over the past century by any measure.
In 1820, the average European worker earned about three times what the average African did. Now, the average European earns 20 times what the average African does. Although GDP per capita income in Africa has also been steadily growing, measures are still far better in other parts of the world. Over $500 billion (U.S.) has been sent to African nations in the form of direct aid. Aid to developing countries reached a record high in 2010 but only $11billion has been received out of the $25 billion increase promised to sub-Saharan Africa at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit.
The scourge of poverty has not reduced, even after 10 years since world leaders established goals and targets to free humanity from its strangulating grips. At the September 2010 MDG summit, world leaders put forward an ambitious action plan -a roadmap, outlining what was needed to meet the lofty goal of eradicating poverty by 2015.
The MDG Report 2011 was recently released by the United Nations at Geneva. The report, an annual assessment of regional progress towards the goals, reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 25 UN and international agencies. The report quoted the International Labour Organisation as saying “one in five workers and their families worldwide are living in extreme poverty (on less than $1.25 per person per day).” The UN Secretary, Ban Kin-Moon, noted that too many people are “anxious, angry and hurting. They fear for their jobs, their families, their futures. World leaders must show not only that they care, but that they have the courage and conviction to act,” he said.
This call for action became more expedient with the high number of hungry people worldwide. According to the report, the proportion of people in the developing world who went hungry in 2005-2007 remained stable at 16 per cent, despite significant reductions in extreme poverty. Based on this trend and in the light of the economic crisis and rising food prices, the United Nations would find it difficult to meet the hunger-reduction target.
Details of the MDGs report revealed that robust growth in the first half of the decade reduced the number of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day from 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005. At the same time, the corresponding poverty rate dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent. Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the MDG target of eradicating poverty and hunger could be met.
However, the fastest growth and sharpest reductions in poverty are found in Eastern Asia, particularly in China, where the poverty rate is expected to fall to under five per cent by 2015. Projections for sub-Saharan Africa, based on economic growth performance and forecast trends, indicate that extreme poverty in the region is expected to fall below 36 per cent.
Despite the daunting challenges in achieving the goals, Ban Ki-Moon said the MDGs have helped to lift millions of people out of poverty as well as save lives and increase enrolment in schools. He said achieving the goals would require equitable and inclusive economic growth that reaches everyone and that will enable all people, especially the poor and marginalised, to benefit from economic opportunities.
“They have reduced maternal deaths, expanded opportunities for women, increased access to clean water and freed many people from deadly and debilitating disease. At the same time, the report shows that we still have a long way to go in empowering women and girls, promoting sustainable development and protecting the most vulnerable from the devastating effects of multiple crises, be they conflicts, natural disasters or volatility in prices of food and energy,” he said.
At the United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, various civil societies, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders joined the rest of the world to discuss global progress, in line with the Nigerian situation. The forum, which was anchored by the Deputy Head, UN System in Lagos, Dr. Charles Korir, had in attendance Dr. Omolaso Omosehin, the Head, UNFPA, Lagos, Mrs. Yemisi Ransome-Kuti of Nigerian Network of NGOs, Dr Isaac Aladeloye, Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF, Lagos, Mrs Josephine Smith, Head of Office, UNHCR, Lagos, Mrs Olajumoke Araba, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, among others.
Although, Korir and other speakers noted the appreciable progress made by the country towards achieving some of the goals, global partnership and urgent action were recommended to drive such reforms. Mrs. Ransome-Kuti said Nigeria faced daunting challenges in achieving both the MDGs and the Vision 20:20. She blamed the increasing poverty in the country on corrupt leadership, while arguing that spending 75 per cent of the budget on current expenditure in the country wouldn’t allow for meaningful development policies for the interest of other citizens.
“We have to address the issues of funding, transparency and accountability, particularly at the local government level. Unless we lock up some corrupt people, it is going to be business as usual,” she warned.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2011/sept/14/citysun-14-09-2011-003.html
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Friday, August 19, 2011
UN launches web-based guide to help combat all forms of malnutrition
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today launched a web-based tool that gives governments and health-care providers access to clear guidance on how to scale up life-saving nutrition interventions to combat all forms of malnutrition.
The WHO e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA), launched at the beginning of a three-day Asian regional meeting on nutrition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is designed to help governments overcome one of the major challenges in fighting malnutrition – the vast, and often conflicting, array of evidence and advice that exists on effective, preventive and therapeutic nutrition interventions.
The online eLENA project will prioritize and present the latest advice on tackling the three main forms of malnutrition – undernutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and overweight and obesity.
“Several billion people are affected by one or more types of malnutrition,” said Ala Alwan, the WHO Assistant Director-General of Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health.
“Countries need access to the science and evidence-informed guidance to reduce the needless death and suffering associated with malnutrition. eLENA can greatly improve how countries cope with the terrible health threats posed by malnutrition,” he said.
The material in the e-library describes the effective health interventions needed to tackle malnutrition. Such measures include the appropriate treatment of severe acute malnutrition; promoting breastfeeding; and fortifying staple foods with vitamins and minerals such as iron and folic acid for wheat and maize flours.
It also recommends using multiple micronutrient powders to fortify foods for children aged between six and 23 months. To prevent anaemia, daily iron and folic supplements are advised for pregnant women, and intermittent iron and folic acid supplementation is recommended for menstruating women and pre-school and school-age children.
“To create eLENA, we have sifted through thousands of pages of scientific evidence and advice to prioritize, justify and better present the kinds of nutrition actions needed to prevent people succumbing to the many forms of malnutrition,” said Francesco Branca, the WHO Director of Nutrition for Health and Development.
The tool is an important component of WHO’s global drive to help countries prevent and control malnutrition. The agency is a major promoter of the “Scaling up Nutrition” movement, which involves multiple UN agencies and other key entities in the nutrition field.
The movement strives to help countries tackle malnutrition and ensure that the response includes the agriculture, health, social protection and the food security sectors.
The various forms of malnutrition include being underweight, the leading risk factor for many diseases in low-income countries and which represents about 6 per cent of the global disease burden. Childhood underweight, micronutrient deficiencies and poor breastfeeding combined cause 7 per cent of deaths – 3.9 million fatalities – and 10 per cent of the global disease burden.
Micronutrient deficiencies include iodine deficiency – which is the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable – cause of brain damage, while anaemia, which affects 1.6 billion people, is mostly due to iron deficiency. It increases the risk of low-birth-weight and pregnancy anaemia, associated with 18 per cent of maternal deaths.
Vitamin A deficiency affects 190 million pre-school children across the world, while zinc deficiency, which can affect the immune system, kills 430,000 children annually.
An estimated 1.5 billion adults over age 20 are overweight or obese. Global estimates suggest that more than 40 million children under the age of five are already overweight or obese.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39268&Cr=nutrition&Cr1=
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The WHO e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA), launched at the beginning of a three-day Asian regional meeting on nutrition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is designed to help governments overcome one of the major challenges in fighting malnutrition – the vast, and often conflicting, array of evidence and advice that exists on effective, preventive and therapeutic nutrition interventions.
The online eLENA project will prioritize and present the latest advice on tackling the three main forms of malnutrition – undernutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and overweight and obesity.
“Several billion people are affected by one or more types of malnutrition,” said Ala Alwan, the WHO Assistant Director-General of Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health.
“Countries need access to the science and evidence-informed guidance to reduce the needless death and suffering associated with malnutrition. eLENA can greatly improve how countries cope with the terrible health threats posed by malnutrition,” he said.
The material in the e-library describes the effective health interventions needed to tackle malnutrition. Such measures include the appropriate treatment of severe acute malnutrition; promoting breastfeeding; and fortifying staple foods with vitamins and minerals such as iron and folic acid for wheat and maize flours.
It also recommends using multiple micronutrient powders to fortify foods for children aged between six and 23 months. To prevent anaemia, daily iron and folic supplements are advised for pregnant women, and intermittent iron and folic acid supplementation is recommended for menstruating women and pre-school and school-age children.
“To create eLENA, we have sifted through thousands of pages of scientific evidence and advice to prioritize, justify and better present the kinds of nutrition actions needed to prevent people succumbing to the many forms of malnutrition,” said Francesco Branca, the WHO Director of Nutrition for Health and Development.
The tool is an important component of WHO’s global drive to help countries prevent and control malnutrition. The agency is a major promoter of the “Scaling up Nutrition” movement, which involves multiple UN agencies and other key entities in the nutrition field.
The movement strives to help countries tackle malnutrition and ensure that the response includes the agriculture, health, social protection and the food security sectors.
The various forms of malnutrition include being underweight, the leading risk factor for many diseases in low-income countries and which represents about 6 per cent of the global disease burden. Childhood underweight, micronutrient deficiencies and poor breastfeeding combined cause 7 per cent of deaths – 3.9 million fatalities – and 10 per cent of the global disease burden.
Micronutrient deficiencies include iodine deficiency – which is the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable – cause of brain damage, while anaemia, which affects 1.6 billion people, is mostly due to iron deficiency. It increases the risk of low-birth-weight and pregnancy anaemia, associated with 18 per cent of maternal deaths.
Vitamin A deficiency affects 190 million pre-school children across the world, while zinc deficiency, which can affect the immune system, kills 430,000 children annually.
An estimated 1.5 billion adults over age 20 are overweight or obese. Global estimates suggest that more than 40 million children under the age of five are already overweight or obese.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39268&Cr=nutrition&Cr1=
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Monday, August 8, 2011
New T-Shirts!
Have a look at these two amazing new t-shirts that are now available to YOU!
Stand Up Take Action: Make Noise for the MDGs
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Both T-Shirts are available in the UNgoals Shop | Visit www.endpoverty2015.org
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Saturday, August 6, 2011
UN agencies step up deliveries of food aid to famine-stricken Somalis
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/08/un-agencies-step-up-deliveries-of-food-aid-to-famine-stricken-somalis.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Cleaning up Nigerian oil pollution could take 30 years, cost billions
The environmental restoration of Nigeria’s Ogoniland oil region could prove to be the world’s most wide-ranging and long-term oil clean-up exercise ever, if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and other ecosystems are to be brought back to full health, according to a United Nations report released today.
It could take 25 to 30 years, with an initial investment of $1 billion just for the first five years, to clean up pollution from more than 50 years of oil operations in the Niger Delta, ranging from the “disastrous” impact on mangrove vegetation to the contamination of wells with potentially cancer-causing chemicals in a region that is home to some 1 million people.
The independent scientific assessment, carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) over a 14-month period, showed greater and deeper pollution than previously thought after an agency team examined more than 200 locations, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way, analyzed 4,000 soil and water samples, reviewed more than 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 people at local community meetings.
“It is UNEP’s hope that the findings can break the decades of deadlock in the region and provide the foundation upon which trust can be built and action undertaken to remedy the multiple health and sustainable development issues facing people in Ogoniland,” UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner said of the report, which was presented to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan today in Abuja, the capital.
“In addition it offers a blueprint for how the oil industry, and public regulatory authorities, might operate more responsibly in Africa and beyond at a time of increasing production and exploration across many parts of the continent.”
The report, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, proposed the establishment of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority as soon as possible, with an initial capital injection of $1 billion from the oil industry and the Government to cover the first five years of the clean-up project; and a soil management centre with hundreds of mini-centres to treat contaminated soil and provide hundreds of job opportunities.
It also recommended setting up a centre to promote learning and benefit other communities impacted by oil contamination in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world.
The study found that some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground, and action to protect human health and reduce should be taken without delay. In at least 10 communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened.
In one community, Nisisioken Ogale, near a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline, families are drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above UN World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, warranting emergency action ahead of all other remediation efforts.
The report noted that the impact of oil on mangrove vegetation had been disastrous, with many inter-tidal creeks where mangroves that serve as nurseries for fish and natural pollution filters denuded of leaves and stems, the roots coated in layers of a bitumen-type substance. But despite community concerns, fish consumption was not posing a health risk.
Meanwhile, Ogoni communities are exposed to hydrocarbons every day through multiple routes. While the impact of individual contaminated land sites tends to be localized, air pollution related to oil industry operations is pervasive and affecting the quality of life of close to 1 million people.
UNEP has emphasized that the study, which began in late 2009, is independent and its funding by the Shell Petroleum Development Company is in keeping with the polluter-pays principle.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39232&Cr=pollution&Cr1=
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It could take 25 to 30 years, with an initial investment of $1 billion just for the first five years, to clean up pollution from more than 50 years of oil operations in the Niger Delta, ranging from the “disastrous” impact on mangrove vegetation to the contamination of wells with potentially cancer-causing chemicals in a region that is home to some 1 million people.
The independent scientific assessment, carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) over a 14-month period, showed greater and deeper pollution than previously thought after an agency team examined more than 200 locations, surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way, analyzed 4,000 soil and water samples, reviewed more than 5,000 medical records and engaged over 23,000 people at local community meetings.
“It is UNEP’s hope that the findings can break the decades of deadlock in the region and provide the foundation upon which trust can be built and action undertaken to remedy the multiple health and sustainable development issues facing people in Ogoniland,” UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner said of the report, which was presented to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan today in Abuja, the capital.
“In addition it offers a blueprint for how the oil industry, and public regulatory authorities, might operate more responsibly in Africa and beyond at a time of increasing production and exploration across many parts of the continent.”
The report, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, proposed the establishment of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority as soon as possible, with an initial capital injection of $1 billion from the oil industry and the Government to cover the first five years of the clean-up project; and a soil management centre with hundreds of mini-centres to treat contaminated soil and provide hundreds of job opportunities.
It also recommended setting up a centre to promote learning and benefit other communities impacted by oil contamination in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world.
The study found that some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground, and action to protect human health and reduce should be taken without delay. In at least 10 communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened.
In one community, Nisisioken Ogale, near a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline, families are drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above UN World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, warranting emergency action ahead of all other remediation efforts.
The report noted that the impact of oil on mangrove vegetation had been disastrous, with many inter-tidal creeks where mangroves that serve as nurseries for fish and natural pollution filters denuded of leaves and stems, the roots coated in layers of a bitumen-type substance. But despite community concerns, fish consumption was not posing a health risk.
Meanwhile, Ogoni communities are exposed to hydrocarbons every day through multiple routes. While the impact of individual contaminated land sites tends to be localized, air pollution related to oil industry operations is pervasive and affecting the quality of life of close to 1 million people.
UNEP has emphasized that the study, which began in late 2009, is independent and its funding by the Shell Petroleum Development Company is in keeping with the polluter-pays principle.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39232&Cr=pollution&Cr1=
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