EDITORIAL MDG’s: Are we on Target for 2015?
About this time, 7 years ago, 189 countries of the United Nation signed up to the Millennium Development Goals. The UN estimated the cost of meeting the targets to be just 0.3 percent of the global income. Today, half way through the 15 year target period, how much have we done to eradicate extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, reduce child mortality, and increase maternal health, etc, before 2015? Look objectively round you before attempting and answer. Although the global incidence of extreme poverty declined between 1990 and 2002, in sub-Saharan Africa another 140 million people entered that category. Some 44 percent of the region's population now live in extreme poverty, classed as surviving on less than $1 a day. In most countries in our continent, the situation is quite bleak. But not entirely hopeless. For instance, in Uganda, the proportion of people living in poverty feel from 56 percent to 36 percent after the government introduced a poverty eradication and Action Plan. In Kenya, the free primary education plan brought education to 1.2 million children in 2002. So the right actions will get us the needed effects, once we set our minds to it. It takes time to train the teachers, nurses and engineers; to build the roads, schools and hospitals; to grow the small and large businesses able to create the jobs and income needed. So we must start now. And we must more than double global development assistance over the next few years. Nothing less will help to achieve the Goals. But more can be achieved if we join the "big" efforts of our governments. That is if you can make it a challenge to better lives around us. That is the main idea we want to share with you in this edition of INSPIRE. We gladly echo Bod Geldof, when he says in 'Better World" all of us can make a stand by being an activist, an advocate or a volunteer, by simply supporting charities or changing the way we spend money. That is one way to speed up the progress report of our African countries towards the achievement of the MDGs. Pochi Tamba