This paper examines the South African government’s mandate to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014, noting the growing evidence of the unlikelihood of this happening. The paper found that disagreements among academics on the severity of poverty can be traced to the failure by Statistics South Africa to conduct adequate surveys on poverty, while unemployment rates have undermined the progress of poverty-elevation made since 2006. It estimates that, in 2014, there will still be between three and five million unemployed lacking any kind of income protection. The impact of AIDS on mortality also means that the number of poor has been significantly reducing, also impacting on unemployment rates. The paper attempts to explain the reasons behind the offhand rejection of the 'Basic Income Grant' (BIG) by government, concluding that the political bargains were behind scrapping the proposal of BIG.
Poverty and health
This book aims to give a bird’s eye view of the situation of child poverty in Africa. It highlights the paradox of countries that have an abundance of natural resources, especially oil and diamonds, yet whose populations largely suffer from poverty, such as Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. The book points to a symbiotic relationship between poverty and armed conflicts as Africa is slowly extricating itself from the intertwined problems of conflict, poverty, hunger and illiteracy. The book argues that improved governance and increased investments in key social sectors have created an unprecedented sense of optimism. Nevertheless, millions of African children still struggle on the margins. At least 600 million children under the age of 18 are surviving on less than US$1 a day worldwide and 40% of these children live in developing countries.
This is a synthesis report of eight case studies conducted across South Africa to investigate sanitation and the delivery of clean water. The findings and conclusions have been captured under four cross-cutting issues: public participation and politics; accountability and regulation; service levels, financing and affordability; and institutional approaches. The research showed that finding workable solutions and taking appropriate decisions can only be achieved through a thorough understanding of the local context and realities. There is no one-size-fits-all best-approach, and institutional models work best when they are developed on the basis of robust, comprehensive local assessment of what the key challenges are and how best to meet them. The author argues for a multi-jurisdictional water utility model, across more than one municipality, as having the potential to make the best use of available skills and resources and achieve economies of scale. Sufficient municipal capacity, consolidation of services, clear organisational objectives, and staff commitment and capability are identified as critical to success. The studies indicate that, internationally and nationally, there is a need to shift away from an excessive preoccupation with institutional approaches, which tend to rely on layers of capacity and governance that are generally quite rare or undeveloped, and rather focus on the basics of good operational practice.
A resolution at the 63rd World Health Assembly states that food-borne diseases continue to represent a serious threat to the health of millions of people in the world, particularly those in developing countries with poor nutritional status. It refers to the links between food safety, nutrition and food security, and acknowledges the instrumental role of food safety in eradicating hunger and malnutrition, in particular in low-income and food-deficit countries, while also acknowledging increasing evidence that many communicable diseases are transmitted through food, a risk that is increased by the growing global trade in food. It calls for closer collaboration between the health sector and other sectors, and increased action on food safety at international and national levels, across the full length of the food-production chain, to reduce significantly the incidence of food-borne disease.
With 87% of the world’s population or approximately 5.9 billion people using safe drinking water sources, the world is on track to meet or even exceed the drinking water target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to this new report. The report confirms that advances continue to be made towards greater access to safe drinking water. In contrast, progress in relation to access to basic sanitation is insufficient to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a major online drive to spur action to eliminate hunger and highlight the fact that one in six people worldwide go hungry everyday. Through its '1 billionhungry project' people can voice their opinions about world hunger by adding their names to an online petition. The campaign uses a yellow whistle as an icon encouraging people to blow the whistle against this global scourge. Events in support of the petition launch are organised through FAO offices around the world. International athletes, football players and recording artists will add their voices to the campaign. Civil society organisations, including the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, will also promote the campaign through their own networks.
This communication lays out a new policy framework for European Union humanitarian action to strengthen efforts to tackle food insecurity in humanitarian crises. In it, the he European Commission reports its intention to strengthen four pillars of food security in general and emergency settings by increasing availability of food, improving access to food, improving quality and ensuring people eat nutritious food, and boosting the effectiveness of crisis prevention and management. Key points include the benefits of involving beneficiaries in operations and incorporating gender, livelihood and protection considerations in assessing needs and designing and delivering responses. The Commission draws attention to the needs of nutritionally vulnerable groups, including children under-two and pregnant women, while urging for integration of programmes so that needs are addressed holistically, and underlining the importance of linking relief with rehabilitation and development. The framework on food security spells out the need to support agriculture in poor countries to help them reach the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger and poverty by 2015.
This report examines the daily challenges urban refugees face, including police harassment, discrimination and limited livelihood opportunities. The report presents the challenges that affect refugees and explores the policies and current assistance government is giving to them, to identify ways of attending to their long-term and immediate needs. The authors suggest a gap in clear policy on the issue. They point to issues for policy attention: Many refugees have not registered with authorities and lack required identification documents. In addition, they experience difficulties in accessing formal employment and face problems of poor access to adequate health and education services and precarious living conditions.
Nutrition surveys carried out by the government of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the support of the United Nations (UN) Children’s Fund and the UN World Food Programme, have found unusually high levels of malnutrition in children living in five provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Experts believe the basic structural causes of malnutrition have been aggravated by conflict, high food prices and the global financial crisis, which has shaken the mining industry in the west and south-east of the country. Some 530,000 children under five and more than one million pregnant women need urgent nutrition interventions, according to the DRC Ministry of Health. In several areas surveyed, global acute malnutrition rates are above the 10% threshold for intervention and also in some cases above the emergency threshold of 15%. The causes behind such high malnutrition rates vary from one territory to another and are identified in the survey as lack of access to healthcare and to safe drinking water, poor access to good quality food, non-optimal feeding practices of infants, young children and women, and lack of tools and seeds for agriculture.
According to this book, the abuse of alcohol has drastic consequences on the safety and health outcomes of nations. Road accidents, family and sexual violence and homicide and foetal alcohol syndrome, are some of the occurrences where alcohol tends to have a direct role. Working Together to Reduce Harmful Drinking contains nine chapters written by experts in the alcohol industry, government and academia. It seeks to contribute to a global strategy to reduce irresponsible and harmful alcohol consumption and its attendant risks.