e-bulletin no. 21
March 1-15, 2008
In this issue:
1.5 billion in Asia-Pacific need aid to escape poverty
Worlds 2.6 billion in line for toilets
Sri Lankans suffering from food insecurity
Indian NGO helps rehabilitate border orphans
Welcome to South Asia MDG Watch.
This fortnightly electronic newsletter brings to you news and information on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the South Asia region. The MDGs are a global initiative taken by the worlds governments to improve the lives of their people.
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Staying alive
Despite the recent rapid strides on the economic front, at an average of 6 percent per year, around 1.5 billion people in Asia-Pacific live on less than two dollars a day. This new report by the Asian Development Bank is a glaring reflection of poverty that also impacts the goals on education, health and sanitation.
Read more
A handful of rice
Photo credit: Flickr
Disproportionate shares
In India, income inequalities have gone up not only between rural-urban areas but between large and small towns.
Read more
Hunger bites
In a shocking tale of survival, hunger forces a village in eastern India to sells parts of a rocky mountain.
Read more
March 22 is World Water Day
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Hurry up! 2.6 billion people in line
The World Water Day reinforces the message that safe-water goals cannot be achieved without tackling sanitation. The new WASH (water supply, sanitation and hygiene) campaign is urging the world to hurry up and address the critical issue of lack of toilets.
Make water life-saving
Making safe drinking water accessible to children and families can help prevent diarrhoeal diseases, one of the leading causes of death among children under five. Read more
Right to food
After years of model development, Sri Lanka is now a low-income food deficit country with a relatively high global hunger index in South Asia, according to the World Food Programme. Food insecurity due to unaffordable prices is leading to low nutrition levels and wasting. Its time to notice the public food and health crisis. Read more
Homes beyond boundaries
The Borderless World Foundation provides shelter, rehabilitation and support to young girls affected by violence in the Indian border areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The baseras have become new homes to those orphaned and abandoned by helping them recover psychologically and socially. Read more
News
No more missing deaths
Using traditional birth attendants to record all live births, stillbirths and deaths of women is a low-cost way to measure maternal mortality.
Web portal for the disabled
Punarbhava, a new interactive website for the disabled, is a one-stop cyber shop for information, aids, appliances, research and employment.
Home truths
Ninety percent of women in Pakistan are subject to verbal, sexual, emotional or physical abuse within their own homes.
Resources
What ails RTI
RTI needs more teeth. Transparency Review , the January issue of Journal of Transparency Studies by the Centre for Media Studies examines the execution of Right to Information Act in India and analyses ways to make it more effective.
Safe schools for every girl
Amnesty International Indias report Safe Schools: Every Girl’s Right has key demands to make schools safe for girls by prohibiting all forms of violence and enforcing early intervention mechanisms, codes of conduct and appropriate laws.
This newsletter is brought to you by OWSA, in partnership with the UN Millennium Campaign.
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We are the first generation that can eradicate poverty.
Disclaimer:
The editorial content and views expressed here are of OneWorld South Asia and do not necessarily reflect the
opinion of the UN Millennium Campaign.