NIGERIA REMAINS STRONG ON ITS POSITION TO NOT ACCEPT LOANS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

4 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: At the United Nations climate change talks in Accra, Ghana August 21-27, Head of the Special Climate Change Unit for the Nigerian Delegation Dr. Victor Fodeke reiterated his group’s position to not accept any loans to help combat climate change. The African group first articulated their rejection of such loans at the Bonn United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in June in response to the World Bank’s proposal to contribute funds to climate change at a meeting in Potsdam, Germany in May. Fodeke told MediaGlobal, “African countries have been under debt burden which has hindered sustainable development and millennium development goals.” Given this debt, Fodeke is urging other African countries to adopt the same position. “In this age of consequences of climate change, it has been reported that Africa will suffer most,” Fodeke said. He hopes to mobilize African countries to create a set of programs and policies of adaptation rather than mitigation. Since they are all in the same position, African countries will benefit the most if they work together toward a common goal with regards to climate change, but that does not mean they will not take outside help in the form of information and policy support. Fodeke explained, “What we need are being articulated by the African group and G77 plus China, at the Accra Conference, such issues as best available technology for adaptation, mitigation, financial mechanisms, capacity building, etc.” In attending meetings with other countries and groups working to reduce the effects of climate change, Nigerian officials hope to learn the best policies for them to reach their millennium goals.

BAHRAIN WORKING TO ENHANCE THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY

31 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: A two-day workshop aimed at including women’s needs in the national budget of Bahrain organized by the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) ended Thursday. The workshop was an important step for women as it was held to increase women’s role in development by making governments more aware of the need to include women in their National Plan and therefore budget accordingly. UNIFEM Coordinator in Egypt Maya Morsy, who played a key role in organizing the workshop, explained to MediaGlobal, “The workshop introduced to them the concept of gender budgeting as well as the tools that Bahrain could adopt to ensure the national budget is gender sensitive throughout all the processes starting by gender aware public policies appraisal, gender-disaggregated beneficiary assessment, and moving to the analysis of national budget and the sectoral budgets and a gender disaggregated public expenditure incidence analysis.” Nationally, Bahrain adopted a National Women Strategy covering women’s empowerment in both the public and private spheres, and all ministries are being asked to consider the national strategy in the future and provide for women’s specific needs according to the data collected highlighting gender differences. Morsy said, “The first step to the Supreme Council of Women in Bahrain is to make sure that the specific needs of women in the strategy in health, education, housing, childcare and family services is integrated in the National Plan. The gender budgeting lens will also help them to monitor the expenditures targeting the above programs.” Additionally, in creating the gender budget analysis, the Bahrain government will be able to find the gaps in their current programs and fix them accordingly. At the opening of the workshop, Assistant Secretary General for the SCW Bahija Al Dailami said, “The SCW wants to work closely with the ministries to agree on some of the mechanisms of the national budget and find out where the women’s needs are met.” The workshop began in response to the cooperation protocol between the SCW and the Finance Ministry in Bahrain, which was created in 2006 to promote programs that would enhance women’s role in society.

NEW SURVEY CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT MUSLIM VIEWS ON GLOBALIZATION

29 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: A new public opinion poll found that most Muslims view globalization as largely favorable, contradicting the common perception that Muslims view an increasingly globalized world as a threat to their societies. “We hope that the findings will find their way to an advocate or a policy maker who can utilize them when shaping policy,” Melinda Brouwer of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, the organization that conducted the survey, told MediaGlobal. The poll surveyed six countries with predominantly Muslim populations, spanning several different regions of the world: Egypt, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Indonesia, and the Palestinian Territories. The Muslim population of Nigeria was also surveyed. Asked about the effects of globalization, especially the “increasing connections of our economy with others around the world”, a majority in six out of the seven places polled found the effects to be positive. Only Turkey did not have a majority, with 39 percent saying globalization was mostly good, contrasted with 28 percent who felt it was mostly bad. Egyptians and Nigerian Muslims favored globalization most strongly. Interestingly, the point on which Muslims in all places surveyed were most reticent on globalization was its impact on the environment. “These findings run counter to the widespread assumption that people in the Muslim world are anxious and hostile about the prospect of integration into the global economy,” said Steven Kull, director of the survey.

KILLER DISEASE REQUIRES INTENSE TREATMENT

28 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: According to a new study, the deadly Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) can be overcome with aggressive treatment. Because most first-line and second-line drugs are ineffective against the disease, using a combination of five drugs is the magic formula. That’s the good news. On the other hand, the treatment is expensive and out of reach for most patients in developing countries. “There is a dramatic difference between the costs for treating regular TB and treating XDR-TB,” Robyn Shepherd, Communication Officer at Results Educational Fund, told MediaGlobal. What are these costs, precisely? “The cost of drugs for regular TB treatment is around $20, and full course treatment would be $200,” she said. But the cost of a full course of treatment for XDR-TB seems to be in another league altogether. Shepherd said that this would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

NEW SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMME IN PAKISTAN

27 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Unilever, a company committed to adding vitality to life by meeting everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal health care with brands that “help people feel good, look good and get more out of life” has pledged to help the World Food Programme (WFP) end child hunger in Pakistan. “A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between WFP and Unilever was signed in 2007 for a three-year partnership for child vitality. The overall objective of the partnership is to improve the health and nutrition of school-aged children. The partnership’s main activities will center around school feeding and nutrition support, include a financial donation of Unilever products, an education campaign on nutrition and hygiene in schools, and the joint development of fortified products,” Amjad Jamal of the Public Affairs Unit in WFP’s Country Office in Pakistan told MediaGlobal. Unilever has created an employee payroll program to support its pledge. “It is an automated system under which employees have been mobilized to contribute towards WFP’s school feeding programs in Pakistan. This contribution is totally voluntary. Over 600 employees have already enrolled and another 400 will soon join. Unilever will give the WFP the accumulated donations every six months,” said Jamal. These participates have committed to contribute 2.5 million a year. The funds will be used in more than 3000 WFP assisted government girls’ primary schools in rural areas most affected by the food crisis. The WFP provides assistance to over four million people in Pakistan struggling with the food crisis, of which nearly half a million are girls benefiting from the school feeding program.

UPSURGE IN VIOLENCE IN PHILLIPINES CAUSE THOUSANDS TO BE DISPLACED AND IN NEED OF AID

28 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: In Mindanao, a community in the south of the Philippines, more than 220,000 people have been displaced due to clashes between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government. This most recent upsurge in violence caused the number of displaced to rise to 220,000 from 130,000 last week. “The World Food Programme (WFP) is fully prepared to maintain support for displaced families,” WFP Philippines Country Director Stephen Anderson told MediaGlobal in an interview. WFP is planning to deliver 1,000 metric tons of rice to displaced families in the coming months, and has already provided 650 metric tons since the conflict arose. “WFP is responding to a request from the government to provide food assistance to meet urgent needs among the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the sudden upsurge in violence in southern Mindanao,” Anderson said. However, food is not the only aid displaced persons need; health care and shelter are also priorities. “The Philippines Government Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) and provincial government authorities are working closely with agencies such as UNICEF, ICRC, Philippine National Red Cross, Accion contra el hambre (ACF), OXFAM, and Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services and others to comprehensively assess and provide necessary ‘non-food’ support for the displaced,” explained Anderson. In the coming weeks, the WFP will monitor the security situation and assess the areas in conflict to devise the best long-term aid plan to support Mindanao.

MONSOON RAINS DISPLACE THOUSANDS IN EASTERN TERAI, NEPAL

27 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) distributed emergency food assistance to 50,000 people displaced by monsoon rains that collapsed an embankment of the Saptokoshi River in Eastern Terai, Nepal. Initially, the WFP provided a 15-day food basket consisting of rice, pulses, salt, and vegetable oil. They are now preparing to provide food for up to 30 days for families who are unable to return home because of high water levels. “Many of the families most impacted by the floods were already living on the edge. In the affected districts, local communities have poverty rates as high as 40 percent and acute malnutrition rates are nearly 24 percent,” Heather Sutliff, Communications Officer at the WFP in Nepal, told MediaGlobal. Thousands of hectares of land were flooded, not only forcing people out of their homes, but destroying 5,000 hectares of crops. “What is most unfortunate is the amount of crop land that has been destroyed in such a small area and the impact it will have on families that have lost everything – not just their crops, but their homes, food stocks and livelihood. If livelihood and recovery assistance is not provided to these families, it could translate into significant increases in malnutrition rates. WFP plans to provide medium and long-term support aimed at protecting restoring the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable people affected by this flood,” said Sutliff.

POVERTY STUDY FINDS MORE POOR THAN ESTIMATED

26 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The International Comparison Program (ICP) is the first major effort to update poverty data. It found that the number of people bearing economic hardship in developing countries is greater than originally speculated by the international community. The 2005 ICP, which was released in early 2008, also provided new estimates illustrating an accurate picture of the cost of living in developing countries. “This is an updated international poverty line of $1.25 in 2005 prices, which is equivalent to $1.00 in 1996. The $1.25 line in 2005 price is the average poverty line found in the poorest 10 to 30 countries in the world, which converted to Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs),” Merrell Tuck, Senior Communications Officer of Economic Development at the World Bank, told MediaGlobal. The ICP data discovered that one in four, or 1.4 billion people total, in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day in 2005. While these numbers are jolting to the international community, they demonstrate a decline from the 1.9 billion people living at or below the poverty line. The study concluded that the billions of poor living in the developing world have shown significant progress in overcoming extreme poverty and suggests that at the current rate, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to halve the 1990 poverty rate by 2015 will be achieved.

NEW STRATEGY DEPLOYED TO AID MALNOURISHED CHILDREN IN SOMALIA

25 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: According to many United Nations agencies, the worsening food crisis in Somalia will leave nearly half of the country, more than three million people, dependant on food aid in the next year. “We have never been in a situation so severe. Never, ever before,” said UNICEF Representative in Somalia Christian Balslev-Olesen of the situation in Somalia. Agencies like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have been working tirelessly in Somalia to combat starvation, malnutrition and related illnesses. “UNICEF is introducing a new strategy of providing Ready-to-Use Food (Plumpy Doz) as a preventive measure to reach children before they become acutely malnourished,” Communications Officer for UNICEF Somalia, Robert Kihara, told MediaGlobal. “Over 138,600 children between 6-36 months of age in areas with the worst acute malnutrition will be targeted.” UNICEF currently is reaching over 5,200 severely malnourished children under-five years each month through their therapeutic feeding programs. UNICEF’s supplementary feeding programs are currently reaching 25,000 children under the age of five. Additionally, UNICEF focuses on the health needs of the Somali children. “UNICEF will continue to provide essential medicines and supplies to the network of over 122 Maternal and Child Health (MCH) facilities and 356 health posts in Central and Southern Somalia,” Mr. Kihara said. These centers ensure access to basic health care for over 2.5 million people in Somalia every year. However, as the food crisis worsens in Somalia, and around the world, and funding remains tight for organizations providing aid, the “quality of services and utilization of services remain low,” explained Mr. Kihara. UNICEF plans to continue monitoring the situation and provide as much supportive aid as possible to the Somali people.