[Australia] Reduce child poverty levels, says Labor

From National Nine News

Federal Labor has demanded urgent national action to counter child poverty following research showing too many Australia children are still living in poverty and dying in infancy.

Eighteen years after former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously vowed that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990, a report by the Brotherhood of St Laurence found that more than one in 10 children are still living in relative poverty.

The brotherhood's social welfare "barometer" said while most children were doing well, those born into poor social groups had a far higher chance of having a low birth weight, showing poor physical growth, not coping in early years of school and developing physical and mental health problems.

The study's authors describe it is a "a scandal that casts serious doubt on our future as a nation of the fair go".

"Despite all of the advances we have made, the social group into which a child is born is still a major determinant of his or her life chances," the report says.

The report found the infant mortality rate for children born into poorer homes was 78 per cent higher than those in wealthier homes for boys, and 62 per cent higher for girls.

Children from disadvantaged areas were also more likely to die from avoidable causes, had substantially higher death rates from accidents and injury, and were more likely to suffer abuse and neglect, according to the study by social economists Rosanna Scutella and Paul Smyth.

They said the infant mortality rates compare to "those of the Australian population in the 1970s".

"This is a truly shocking revelation that the difference of a child living or dying could be so much between the poorest and the richest households," Labor's health spokeswoman Julia Gillard told reporters.

"It shows that this nation needs an action agenda on children's health.

"The statistics are showing us now that we might well be reaching a stage where the current generation of Australian children have reduced life expectancies."

The study said government programs were too small-scale and it was clear that not enough was being done to ensure Australia's children develop and flourish.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence has called for an urgent and comprehensive community campaign to prevent the unequal chances of children today from producing a divided society in the future.

But the government said the study reinforced the need to get more parents back into the workforce, and break generational unemployment, through its Welfare to Work package.

Workforce Participation Minister Peter Dutton pointed to figures in the study showing one in seven children was growing up in a household where no-one had a job.

"This is the very reason the government has introduced the $3.6 billion Welfare to Work package," he said in a statement.

"This is an investment in providing more opportunities and services to help more parents off welfare and into a job."

Mr Dutton said the government had reduced the number of children growing up in jobless families by 71,000 since 1996 when Labor was last in government.

The barometer was released ahead of a Brotherhood of St Laurence child poverty conference starting in Melbourne on Wednesday.

[US Budget] House Budget Package Deprives Low-Income Families of Vital Child Care Assistance

From Results

On November 18, House approved its budget reconciliation bill, H.R. 4241, by a narrow margin of 217-215. The bill approved $9.5 billion over five years in cuts to the Medicaid program and deep cuts to child support enforcement spending which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will result in $24 billion dollars in lost child support payments to struggling single mothers. In addition, the budget for the Food Stamp Program was cut by $700 million over five years, a cut the CBO estimates will result in 220,000 people a month losing food stamps.

The House also approved changes to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the federal welfare program, which will impose unrealistic new work requirements on working parents receiving welfare without increasing the amount of funding for child care assistance. The impact of these changes includes:

* The bill increases work participation requirements for single parents with children under 6 from 20 to 40 hours a week, creating an obvious need for more child care.
* The House increases guaranteed child care spending by just $500 million in over five years, only 6 percent of the $8.3 billion over five years that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will be required to meet the new work and child care costs of the House bill.
* The $500 million dollar increase is actually half of what was originally proposed in the House spending bill, before the House Committee for Ways and Means lowered that amount from $1 billion to $500 million. In contrast the Senate approved an increase of $7 billion for child care funding
* Due to the House’s underfunding of child care, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 330,000 children in low-income working families that are not on welfare will lose their child care assistance by 2010.

Child Care Funding Continues to Decline

The failure of the House to properly fund child care is part of the continuing failure of our government to properly fund child care subsidies. We cannot ask parents make the choice between entering the workforce and leaving their children in low-quality or unsafe child care. According to the National Women’s Law Center, some recent child care funding trends include:

*There have been steady and systematic cuts to child care spending. Federal funding for the Child Care Block Development Grant (CCBDG) has steadily declined over the last four years, and the amounts that states are given through the TANF block grant has decreased since 2000.
*Overall federal and state spending on child care assistance, including CCDBG and TANF funds, declined from $12.3 billion in 2003 to $11.9 billion in 2004.
*Thirty states have now made cuts in total child care spending, and twelve states have lowered their income eligibility cutoffs between 2001 and 2005, meaning that fewer and fewer low-income families qualify for help. An additional seven states failed to raise income requirements, ignoring cost-of-living increases.
*Twenty states have waiting lists or frozen enrollment for child care assistance. Even before the recent hurricanes caused tens of thousands to flee to Texas there were 22,000 children on the waiting list for child care assistance. Nationwide over a half million children in thirty-three states are on waiting lists for child care assistance.
*Many states are being forced to increase copayments for families receiving child care assistance, forcing families already tightly-stretched budgets to be stretched even further.

Congress Should Properly Fund Child Care, Reject Budget Cuts

RESULTS feels that the budget reconciliation process is the entirely wrong avenue to deal with TANF’s five-year reauthorization. The rules of budget reconciliation require that any increase in funding for TANF be matched by cuts in other programs, making the child care funding increase needed for states to adequately support tough work requirements improbable. We also strongly believe that only by properly funding child care assistance can welfare-to-work programs be successful. Including welfare reauthorization and de facto child care cuts in this month’s final budget package would be a real step backwards. Congress should not only reject these harmful changes to TANF, and move to keep TANF out budget reconciliation, but should seek to provide adequate funding for child care assistance, so that the hundreds of thousands of children on waiting lists can receive the child care they need and deserve.

More broadly, RESULTS calls on Congress to reject the current budget reconciliation bills that will enact deep cuts to programs that support many of America’s most vulnerable families and children. Final votes on these spending cuts are not expected until the House returns to Washington on December 6 and the Senate December 14.

[Haiti] Doctors in Haiti fight superstition, poverty in war against AIDS

From The North County Times

By: ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU - Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Inside a clinic, a doctor edges past hundreds of people -- some nervously awaiting results of an HIV test, others appearing emaciated and resigned as they wait for antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS.

Doctors are battling AIDS on two fronts in Haiti. Obtaining and providing the drugs is vital. But in a nation where Voodoo, superstition, poverty and a lack of education are prevalent, getting people to take the medicine and practice safe sex is just as important.

"The challenge isn't to just give people the drugs. It's to make sure they take them," said Dr. Rose Irene Verdier of GHESKIO, a clinic in a rundown seaside neighborhood that is Haiti's largest treatment center for sexually transmitted diseases.

Elisabeth Dumay, a 42-year-old social worker at the center, knows all too well that ignorance can increase the risk of AIDS. About 350,000 Haitians have the virus.

Dumay said she realized in the 1990s that her husband was HIV positive but continued having unprotected sex with him. He died in 1997. The next year, she tested positive for HIV.

"I thought God would protect me, but he didn't," Dumay said.

During her treatment, Dumay was hired as a social worker by GHESKIO -- which in French stands for the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections. Kaposi's sarcoma is a cancer associated with AIDS.

Dumay now helps patients cope with the shock of learning they are HIV positive, regularly calling them to make sure they take their drugs.

In a country with 80 percent unemployment and where only 20 percent of Haitians can read and write, educating people about the virus is crucial, she said.

"We counsel spouses, family members, even Voodoo priests or anyone that has some influence on the community," Dumay said in an interview in her small office.

Dumay said many patients initially are dubious about antiretroviral drugs, or horrified by their side effects.

"It's true it can be very unpleasant at first," Dumay said, explaining that the drugs triggered nausea, hallucinations and sleeplessness for a week in her own case.

She is a role model for those with HIV, showing that you can survive and succeed with the virus.

"I tell them I have a 10-year-old daughter who's HIV negative, and even a new boyfriend who's negative also," she said.

The clinic has an elaborate system of support, offering food, phone cards and even taxi rides to advanced AIDS patients.

"It's a chain, teamwork," Verdier said. "We've adapted medical methods to succeed in the critical conditions of Haiti."

Dr. Jean William Pape, who founded GHESKIO in 1982, said 2,600 patients have received antiretroviral drugs this year. He hopes to reach up to 8,000 people next year. The clinic has treated more than 1 million people since it opened.

The center's $2.6 million yearly budget is paid by donations from international aid programs and foundations, Pape said, explaining that all medications are free to patients. It costs $1,600 per patient each year to provide the drugs.

Standing amid coughing AIDS patients, Verdier said she is convinced AIDS will be beaten within a decade or so.

In the early 1990s, the percentage of Haitians with the virus stood at more than 6 percent. Many experts predicted as many as 30 percent eventually would become infected.

"Yet we're at 3 percent. We're winning this battle," Verdier said.

[Haiti] AIDS therapy found viable in Haiti in spite of turmoil

From The Miami Herald

The first large-scale AIDS drug study in Haiti showed significant increases in survival, in spite of a political upheaval typical of poorer nations.

By JACOB GOLDSTEIN

Antiretroviral drugs have achieved spectacular success in prolonging the lives of Americans with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

But can they work equally well in a country with wretched poverty, social unrest, political upheaval and a dearth of doctors and medical clinics?

A new study out of Haiti says they can.

The study published today -- World AIDS Day -- in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the drugs tripled the survival rates of Haitians with AIDS. It highlights the promise of bringing AIDS therapies to the developing world, where the epidemic is exacting its harshest toll.

''It can be done almost anywhere in the world,'' said Dr. Jean William Pape, one of the study's authors. ``We don't need the excuse of the political situation, social unrest. These things exist; they should not be an excuse for not delivering care.''

The study of 1,004 patients was the first large-scale test of AIDS therapies in Haiti. The drugs boosted one-year survival rates from 30 percent in both adults and children to 87 percent in adults and 98 percent in children. The results were comparable to those in U.S. clinics.

Haiti, where annual per capita income hovers around $400, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Three percent of Haitians are infected with HIV, the highest rate outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

Skeptics have argued that the high cost of AIDS drugs, the complexity of administering them properly and the lack of medical infrastructure would make delivery of drugs unrealistic in poor countries, said Dr. Andre Vulcain, who coordinates AIDS care for the University of Miami's program in Cap-Haitien.

''For many years, the international community had a lot of reservations in promoting treatment for HIV/AIDS in developing countries,'' he said.

STANDARD THERAPY

Standard AIDS therapy, known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, involves taking at least three drugs per day. In patients who fail to take the drugs consistently, the AIDS virus often mutates to become drug resistant. And in the developing world, AIDS patients must often be treated for a wide range of other problems, ranging from malnutrition to tuberculosis.

Despite those challenges, Haitians in the study fared well: The amount of virus in their blood decreased and their immune systems grew stronger at rates comparable to those of patients in the United States. ''This study will allow the international community as well as the government of Haiti to advance with more confidence toward access to HIV care for infected people,'' Vulcain said.

The rate of HIV in Haiti has fallen in recent years. And since 2003, when the price of AIDS drugs fell dramatically in the developing world with the introduction of generics, the number of Haitians on antiretroviral therapy has increased steadily.

Of the estimated 200,000 HIV-positive Haitians, 20,000 probably need antiretroviral therapy, Pape said.

Five thousand are on therapy now, and the number could be twice that by the end of 2006.

The increase is being driven by millions of dollars in international aid, which funds the purchase of the drugs and several programs that train personnel to administer the drugs throughout the country.

Treating the patients in the study cost $1,600 per patient per year, which includes, among other costs, $600 for drugs, $450 for personnel and $300 for lab costs.

MORE THAN DRUGS

The study's authors emphasized the need to address poverty and political conditions as well as deliver drugs.

Some patients were given rice, beans and cooking oil along with their medicine. In the days leading up to the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, the clinic sent drugs home with staff who lived in different parts of the city so that patients who could not travel to the clinic could pick up their pills at the homes of the clinic staff.

''It can be done this way,'' he said. ``All you need is the will to do it.''

[Israel] Peretz Calls for Unity – Vows to Address Poverty

From Arutz Sheva

Speaking in party headquarters on Thursday, Labor leader Amir Peretz called for unity, to end all internal rifts and called on party members to work together towards an election victory. Some 1,000 Laborites were on hand for the event.

Peretz added, “There is no difference between a hungry Jewish child and a hungry Arab child,” adding he will focus on alleviating the suffering of the alarming number of families living under the poverty line.

[US] Fighting Global Poverty with Faith at White House, State Dept.

From The Christian Post

Prominent religious leaders met with President George Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday in Washington, encouraging them to take bold steps on agricultural trade equity and commitment to aid, less than two weeks ahead of the "Dora Round" meeting of the World Trade Organisation.

The President and Secretary were encouraged to be bold domestically and abroad to eliminate “trade-distorting” agricultural subsidies which the religious leaders said harm rural farmers in the U.S. and farmers abroad in developing nations.

The second matter pressed was a proposed $5 billion increase in development aid for the 2007 fiscal year to help poor nations.

“The fight against poverty around the world is vital to establishing solidarity among peoples and nations," said Catholic Archbishop of Washington Theodore E. McCarrick after a private meeting with the president at the White House.

"Global trade rules, when framed from the perspective of the 'least among us,' can lead to more equitable prosperity and stability in a world where growing inequality and instability are very often dangerous realities," he added.

McCarrick later joined other religious leaders at the State Department to meet with the Secretary of State.

The WTO trade discussions that will take place in Hong Kong are part of a round of trade talks that began in 2001 in the city of Doha, Qatar. They were meant to help eliminate a great deal of poverty around the world by giving farmers better access to developed nations and markets.

Religious leaders who met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Department in the afternoon held a press conference at the building entrance. Several of the leaders said they were approaching the fair trade and poverty issues from a spiritual perspective.

"For us at the heart this is a religious and spiritual issue. We shared that with the secretary. We were delighted to hear her concerns as well and encouraged her to be bold," said the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said it was a moral issue, and focused on people in America.

“As the wealthiest nation in the world we have a moral responsibility to use the wealth and leadership that comes to us for the sake of those who live in poverty,” he said.

In total, 13 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders met with Secretary Rice on Thursday afternoon. After the meeting the religious leaders continued to exhort them before the press to push strongly for the issues.

The leaders were impressed by the scope of changes that the president had been putting forward on agriculture reform here in the United States to eliminate subsidies that penalize rural farmers and those in developing countries. Taking that as an example, some also looked into mobilizing people to action within their own spheres of influence.

“The administration has put a strong proposal on the table in the Doha negotiations,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World. “We hope President Bush and other world leaders will go the extra mile to achieve a breakthrough this month.”

[Viet Nam] UNDP official honoured for poverty reduction in Viet Nam

From Viet Nam Net

Ha Noi, Dec. 2 (VNA) - Resident Representative and Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Jordan D. Ryan has been presented with the insignia “For the Cause of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs” by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

Addressing the presentation ceremony in Ha Noi on Dec. 2, Minister Nguyen Thi Hang praised Ryan’s valuable contributions to the programme on poverty reduction and social security in Viet Nam. Noteworthy was the UNDP-funded project coded VIE/02/001, which helped implement the national strategy on poverty reduction from 2001-2005 and the national programme 135 on poverty reduction. In addition, the project was extended with a funding of 5 million USD to carry out the national poverty reduction strategy till 2010.

Hang further said that the UNDP is helping the ministry to prepare a framework programme for a unified national social security system in Viet Nam

[Congo South Africa] Mbeki promises to help nation fight poverty

From Reuters Alert Net

BRAZZAVILLE, 2 December (IRIN) - South African President Thabo Mbeki has said his country would help the Republic of Congo (ROC) to fight poverty, which the UN Development Programme estimates to be afflicting up to 70 percent of the country's 3.1-million people.

"We have other challenges to take up together within the framework of development and of the fight against poverty," Mbeki said on Thursday in Brazzaville, the ROC capital, on the second of his two-day visit.

He said South Africa and the ROC could develop air, sea and railway transport, and dredge the port of Brazzaville on the River Congo. In addition, he said, there was need to modernise Congo's secondary airports and build other communication infrastructure.

"We support the decision by NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa's Development] for a bridge to be built connecting Brazzaville and Kinshasa," Mbeki said, referring to the capitals of the ROC and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said one of the key development needs in the ROC was the provision of adequate electrical power and, as such, South Africa was ready to undertake studies for small-scale dams at Mbama and Liouesso, in the north of the country.

[UK] City MP Barrett helps launch Bill to tackle global poverty

From The Scotsman

EDINBURGH West MP John Barrett has helped launch a new Westminster move to ensure Britain provides more cash to tackle Third World poverty.

The Liberal Democrat is one of the sponsors of the new International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill published yesterday.

It was introduced by former Labour minister and fellow Scots MP Tom Clarke.

Speaking at the launch of the Bill, Mr Barrett expressed his hope that it would help hold the Government to account on key pledges to tackle poverty.

He said: "When 200,000 people marched through Edinburgh in June 2005, they were calling for their politicians to take action to end poverty across the world.

"This Bill will help hold the Government to account and ensure that the UK delivers on the promises made at Gleneagles.

"It is absolutely critical that wealthier countries deliver on their end of the bargain - more and more effective aid, more sustainable debt relief and fairer trade rules - well in advance of 2015.

"I will be fighting to ensure this Bill makes it's way through successfully through Parliament," he added.

[Pakistan] Era of nepotism, corruption, poverty not to be allowed to revive again: Musharraf

From Online International News

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf vowed that era of corruption, nepotism and poverty would never be allowed to revive again terming the PML as the party of poor segment of society.

"Muslim League is the platform for poor section of society and the poor masses will have to organize it," Musharraf expressed these remarks while addressing various traders associations led by Information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad at Army House Rawalpindi Thursday.

Sheikh Rashid presented check worth Rs. 21 million to President Musharraf for the relief and rehabilitation of quake affectees. It may be recalled that that amount was collected by Sheikh Rashid Ahmad during his "Jholey Pehlawoo Muhim" to collect money for quake affectees.

Hailing the spirit of poor segment of Rawalpindi, Musharraf said, "today I am feeling jubilation as the poor people contributed for the quake relief fund with their hard earned money."

Referring to growing poverty, he maintained that government had initiated multifaceted projects, which completion would help arrest poverty.

To what extent the problems of Rawalpindi is concerned, he informed Sheikh Rashid Ahmad apprising him time and again about the problems of Rawalpindi and "I have approved whatever Sheikh Rashid demanded for the development of Rawalpindi."

"Sheikh Rashid is a popular leader in real sense and he has been playing active role for the development of Rawalpindi," he underlined.

He underscored that PML should be made organized political force of the country so as to ensure thumping victory in the forthcoming general elections in 2007. "It has our long-standing desire that overseas Pakistanis should to exercise franchise in the next elections," he added.

"During the past six years Pakistan has faced challenges at multidimensional aspect and have faced these challenges with courage and rather pursued the policy of reforms and we have stabilize democracy in the country," he noted.

On this occasion, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad apprised Musharraf of problems of the city, which the President assured the information minister to be resolved on priority basis.

[US] Religious Leaders to Urge Rice for Anti-Poverty Ahead of WTO

From The Christian Post

With the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings less than two weeks away, Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders will meet today in Washington with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to urge the United States to take a leadership role at the meetings in Hong Kong.

Leaders from Christian anti-poverty advocacy groups, denominational leaders and others will call on Rice to continue her push for anti-poverty efforts, ensuring fairer trade by ending farm subsidies, and to take action on Capitol Hill so that Congress lives up to recent development aid pledges, which have so far come up short.

In mid-November, during a visit to Asia, Rice pressed Asia-Pacific countries to push strongly for a trade deal that could raise millions out of poverty at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea

“As the administration plans its FY2007 budget, our message to the administration is to be bold,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, who will be attending the meeting on Thursday. “The administration needs to be doing more on Capitol hill to fight for its promises to reduce global poverty.”

In a preview statement issued by Bread for the World before the meeting, the faith leaders commended the Bush administration efforts such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) initiative in 2002. The program focuses on providing aid to committed countries that invest in their people, promote just policies, and make good plans for economic development.

In July, at the G8 Summit in Scotland, world leaders pledged to increase their annual developmental aid by millions. However the faith leaders have been disappointed with the results.

“Congress has failed to fully fund the president's requests to ensure his commitments to the world's poorest people.”

In 2002, when President Bush launched the MCA as a government corporation he said faith and conscience drove the project.

"We fight against poverty because faith requires it and conscience demands it," he stated.

The leaders are scheduled to hold a joint press conference at the state department with Secretary Rice following the meeting.

Faith leaders attending the meeting will be: the Rev. David Beckmann, President,
Bread for the World; Rabbi Frederick Mark Dobb, Adat Shalom
Reconstructionist Congregation; Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop,
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim Chaplin,
Georgetown University; the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the
General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA); Imam Mohamed HagMagid,
Executive Director and Imam, All Dulles Area Muslim Society; Cardinal
Theodore E. McCarrick, Catholic Archbishop of Washington; Bishop Roy I.
Sano, Executive Secretary, United Methodist Council of Bishops; Bishop
Monroe R. Saunders Jr., Presiding Bishop, The United Church of Jesus Christ,
Apostolic; Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Secretary General, Islamic Society of North
America; Dr. H. Eric Schockman, President, MAZON: A Jewish Response to
Hunger; Dr. Daniel Vestal, Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and
Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg, Adas Israel Congregation.

[Mozambique] Foreign Aid Cannot Replace Mozambican Work

From All Africa

Foreign aid to Mozambique can never replace the work done by Mozambicans themselves, President Armando Guebuza warned on Wednesday.

In his State of the Nation address to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Guebuza noted that this year's drought has affected over 800,000 people, who have been obliged to wage "a titanic struggle to lessen the impact of this disaster on their families and their communities".

He placed the response to the drought within the broader context of the fight against poverty, which he described as a "new epic of liberation".

"The friendly hand of international solidarity", Guebuza said, "should be seen as complementing, and not as replacing our own efforts to see Mozambique free of poverty".

This conviction, he stressed, had driven his government's approach ever since it took office in February. "We want Mozambicans to put themselves in the front line of this struggle", he said. "That way, our international cooperation partners, and all those who wish Mozambique and its people well, will feel more encouraged to support us, when they see that we are completely committed to the battle against poverty".

Guebuza added that, during his tour of the provinces earlier in the year, he had found "worrying situations", some of which were rooted in red tape, corruption, crime, and the spirit of apathy and drift in the public administration.

Others, however, "result from poor use of the resources that surround communities, and a failure to take a pro-active attitude in response to natural disasters".

The government had worked to eliminate unnecessary red tape and to simplify procedures, notably through the "one stop shops", where citizens can obtain all the documents they need for authorisations or licences in the same place, without a paper chase through offices scattered across an entire provincial capital.

But such innovations were just part of the changes necessary: Guebuza also stressed the human side, in the need for civil servants to act as "facilitators".

The President also expressed serious concern at the continued spread of AIDS despite massive prevention campaigns.

The last figures on the epidemic, from epidemiological surveillance undertaken in 2004, indicated that 16.2 per cent of the population aged between 15 and 49 was HIV-positive - or one in six adult Mozambicans.

Guebuza said that a better strategy is needed in order to contain the epidemic. Methods were required that, within Mozambican cultural practices, would prove more effective in getting across "our message that AIDS kills and that there is no cure".

[Hawaii] Poverty rate below average, but high cost of living hurts

From KPUA

HONOLULU (AP) _ Hawaii's poverty rate was lower than the national average in 2003.

But activists say the high cost of living in the islands means the problem is worse here than the statistics indicate.

Gladys Baisa is the executive director of Maui Economic Opportunity _ a nonprofit group that helps the poor.

She says many young families can't find a place to live because they can't afford the rent.

She says sometimes two or three families live together because they don't have other options.

Baisa says many adults in Hawaii have two jobs but are poor because the pay is low.

The Census Bureau says Hawaii had about 130-thousand people living in poverty in 2003 _ or just under 11 percent of the population.

Nationally, the poverty rate was 12-point-five percent.

The Census bureau defines poverty as two person-family earning less than 12-thousand dollars in per year or a four person family earning less than about 18-thousand 800 dollars.

[Nigeria] Our leaders are not serious about reducing poverty, says Baba Shehu

From The Vanguard

By Arinola Sobowale

Hon. Fanta Baba Shehu, is the Chairman House Committee on Poverty Alleviation, talks about the work of the House committee in helping tackle the problem of poverty. She says a lot needs to be done on the part of government if Nigeria is get out of the poverty trap. Excerpts:

What are the areas your committee think government should focus on in trying to eradicate poverty in Nigeria?

Our committee is one of the most important committees in the National Assembly, because, it constitutes about 45 members, it is this large number so that we dialogue together, work together to eradicate poverty in Nigeria. Moreover, as far as the budget is concerned, our main responsibility is to appropriate money that comes from the presidency to NAPEP. In 2005 budget, we approved about N2 billion for NAPEP. The major area that we want NAPEP to work on is the area of micro credit. We appropriated about N200 million for each state so that the farmers, the youths and the women can come up with their clubs and association and be able to acquire loan, not free, but with very little interest, less than 2%. We have done that, we have approved the budget and to our dismay, NAPEP did not collect anything that we appropriated for in the 2005. We do not know why Mr. President refused to release money to NAPEP.

Can you share your views on the United Nations objective of eradication of poverty in Nigeria?

You are a Nigerian and you can see that 75% of Nigerians are under poverty. We don’t have the basic amenities, especially when you go down to the north, you see a woman trekking about 6-7 km looking for water to cook for her children and drinking water, not to talk about water to wash cloth or to take a bath. And when you say that you are looking for water from morning until down, then farming activities would be paralyzed and the children might not be able to get the attention of their mother. Also when you talk about poverty in Nigeria, you talk about the education level. You know, not everybody in Nigeria goes to school. Most of the children in the rural areas they do not have classrooms to sit down and study. Some study under trees, which is not conducive. The environment is not conducive for them to read.

The textbooks that they are supposed to use, even the chalk are not there. The teachers have not been paid for about 2-3 months. Poverty is a problem all over the world, but in Nigeria it is rampant, but our leaders they don’t care, because they think that they have the money and their children are going to enjoy it. But we need to assure them that yes their children will be educated, but when they come back to Nigeria, they will meet the poor children, they are their colleagues, their friends and it will be to difficult for them to enjoy whatever they have. It will not be easy for them to share it and so many of these poor children that you see may become criminals, and then start attacking them, and there will be no peace. So this is very important, let our leaders listen to what people who are stakeholders in poverty eradication have to say, so that they can be able to grab something and use it for the interest of our people.

Evaluate the UN report that says Nigeria is 20th poorest country in the world in the light of resources available in the country?
The statistics are accurate, we are about 130 million in Nigeria, I just told you that about 75% are under poverty, and it is a UNDP statistics. If about 75% of Nigerians live below $1 a day then the statistics are correct. I have already told you what is happening. Mr. President sent a budget of N3bn and the National Assembly approved N3bn and we are now in October and nothing has been released. If this money has been released and if about N2bn goes to Nigerians and if about 100 people benefit in every state at least, people will say they contributed something to feed some mouths, our leaders are not serious in eradicating poverty. If we are 20 now maybe next year we will be 10. So we must put our heads together to revive Nigeria economically, we need to revive our agriculture, we need to be educated, we need to get portable water, clothing and everything so that we will not see much people begging and sleeping on the street, but the statistics is very clear.

One of the most glaring attributes of poverty is hunger, assess the submission that the single most effective way to reduce poverty is to reduce hunger?
That saying is true, it is related to what our people normally say, and that is why I say that we should go back to agriculture. If 80% of Nigerians will get three square meals on their table without buying them, they go to farm and they get the necessary materials for farming, the fertilizer, the tractor and the modern materials that are used for farming. Our government should endeavor to provide the necessary equipments used for farming, so that they can be able to produce more. Without agriculture, without farming, you know poverty will still increase. And if you know the weather condition of this country especially the northern part where the dry season is more than the raining season, we need a well mechanized farming system, so that it does not matter the season whether dry or raining season people can be able to produce something to eat. Lets hope that God will give courage to our leaders to help the poor people, if not the poverty will still increase.

What are some of strategies put in place to chart a new course towards provision of sustainable financial services for the poor and the low income groups in Nigeria?

We have many agencies within and outside Nigeria, which can come up with micro credit finance. We have micro credit finance institutions like the agricultural bank, whereby the Central bank can ask them to set aside about 10% of their profit for micro finance. Right now, we have about N100bn in Agricultural Bank, whereby small and medium scale entrepreneurs can be able to get loans from the agricultural bank, but the problem is now with the collateral that is required by the agricultural banks to be able to secure these loans. It is beyond the ordinary man and it comes back to the issue of poverty again. Who is going to guarantee you to get a loan of N250, 000? Even your mother will not agree for you to use the house document, and so we still come back to the government again to do something about it.

In addition, we have the People’s Bank and the Community Banks, and they also set aside some money for the micro credit but the problem is still with the collateral. Government does not give money just like that. The private organizations are not doing it, companies like MTN, if they can set aside a portion of the millions of profit they got this year, if they can be able to facilitate loans for our people, it will be very good but who are we to blame? It is our leaders, they are foreigners, they came, they invested and they are taking our money out of Nigeria, and they are not giving us the services that we need, but still they are making the country poorer and poorer. So, we still go back to our leaders again.

Do you think that the crime rate is in any linked with the poverty rate in Nigeria?

Exactly! When you see that a child completes his education up to university level without a job, what do you expect him to do? If the government does not do anything concrete, the situation will only get worse and worse. Although the last time, I heard the government intends to employ about 1000 people from each states including the FCT that is about 40,000 and so if they can do that and continue every year, it will go a long way. Our police should also be well equipped and paid accordingly, when they don’t have money, they force you to give them money. Some times, they even remove their uniforms and join the armed robbers, when there is no job then the crime rate increases. Our government must do something including the private organization, if we want to live in Nigeria and enjoy it.

[Africa] Hunger, Aids, poverty – the vicious cycle

From Reuters Alert Net

As a serious food crisis looms in southern Africa, relief and development agency World Vision says that people will face hunger again and again unless underlying causes are addressed.

“As we mark World Aids Day, the international community must focus its attention on the looming food crisis in southern Africa, whilst also addressing its long-term causes – including the Aids pandemic currently devastating countries such as Malawi and Zambia,” said Stephen Doughty, a World Vision Policy Adviser.

Nick Wasunna, a World Vision Emergency Officer, has just returned from Zimbabwe where the role of Aids in the food crisis is evident. “I saw queues of people at food distribution centres,” he said. “After talking to them you discover they are all affected in some way by HIV.

"The impact of HIV/Aids across the region cannot be underestimated,” he continued. “When a family cannot work or grow food because carers are sick or dying from Aids, the problems facing them and their community are severely compounded. Children, especially girls, drop out of school as they are required to look after dying family members.

“The long-term impact is an uneducated, unskilled and poverty-stricken generation that will continue to emerge and this will impact negatively on the development of southern Africa. It is estimated that in some communities between 10-20% of the workforce can be inactive or reduced in effectiveness due to the pandemic – either through direct infection or caring for others.“

World Vision today launches an urgent appeal for countries threatened by a severe food crisis across southern Africa. Across the region 12-14 million people face hunger with the scale of the crisis at its most severe in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

HIV/Aids, recurrent drought, chronic food insecurity and political instability have all contributed to threaten millions of lives across the region.

World Vision is already one of the largest long-term development and relief NGOs operating in the region. The ongoing emergency response will focus on immediate needs such as food distribution, livelihood recovery and the continuation of long-term programming that tackles the chronic causes of food shortages, chronic poverty and HIV/Aids.

“In 2002, action by NGOs including World Vision and the UN World Food Programme prevented a full-blown famine,” said Stephen Doughty. “We remain hopeful that if enough resources are provided by governments and the public, disaster can be prevented again.”

“But the long-term causes must also be addressed – even if the rate of HIV/Aids is reduced, the effects of the current extent of the pandemic will continue to severely impact on communities in the short to medium-term. The international community needs to hold true to its promise to deliver universal access to care, prevention and treatment, quickly and effectively.”

Members of the public can contribute to the appeal by calling 0800 088 088 or donating online at www.worldvision.org.uk

[UK] New centre to target fuel poverty

From The Chester Evening Leader

WREXHAM will be a warmer place thanks to new schemes aimed at keeping people warm and helping them use energy efficiently.

The county’s energy saving centre was due be officially opened today as part of a new scheme to help people keep warm this winter.

“Warm Wales – Bringing Warm Homes to Wrexham” is a three year project with the aim of reducing fuel poverty and improving health and energy efficiency across Wrexham.

Edwina Hart, the Welsh Assembly minister for social justice and regeneration, was due to open the new centre on Chester Street this afternoon.

The Warm Wales scheme is supported by Wrexham Council in partnership with National Grid and npower.

Similar schemes have been set up in other parts of Wales, such as in Neath, where assessors are in the process of visiting every home to find out if residents are in fuel poverty and whether they are eligible to have free energy efficiency work carried out. The launch comes as the Assembly announced it is to extend its package of financial support for pensioners seeking to cut their energy bills through improved insulation and energy saving measures.

Bills

With the announcement of an additional £10 million of funding over two years, pensioners in Wales could save up to £250 off their annual energy bills by taking advantage of these new grants.

The Energy Saving Trust, which has been campaigning to raise awareness of the need to improve energy efficiency in the home, with particular emphasis on the plight of the elderly, has welcomed the news.

Bob Cherryman, head of Energy Saving Trust Wales, said, “This is great news, not only for pensioners struggling to keep control of their energy bills in the face of recent rising energy prices, but will also go some way towards tackling the issue of Wales’ commitment to climate change.

“We would advise pensioners to contact their local Energy Efficiency Advice Centres free on 0800 512012, based across Wales, who have teams of expert advisers on hand to help pensioners to best access the grant funding announced today.

“We are confident this package of grant aid will go some way to tackle the real issue of energy poverty affecting much of the elderly population in Wales.

“However, it is now up to every one of us to take advantage of the funding and improve energy efficiency in our homes.”

[India] Health insurance for below poverty line families in the offing

From The Business Standard

Come 2006, people living below the poverty line in India will be covered under a national health insurance scheme. The Government of India is drafting a new pharmaceutical policy that is likely to be out in January.

The important plank of this policy is the introduction of a health insurance scheme that will enable accessibility of medicines to 26 per cent of the Indian population.

Simultaneously, maximum retail prices (MRP) of drugs are likely to be inclusive of local taxes, thus ensuring a uniform retail price for drugs and that consumers will not get cheated by retailers.

According to Satwant Reddy, secretary, department of chemicals and petrochemicals, Government of India, the policy also proposes to lay down a special access programme for anti-cancer and anti-HIV/AIDS drugs.

“This will be a public-private partnership programme that will help in reducing the cost of these drugs,” she added. Reddy was speaking on the sidelines of the two-day India-Africa, Asean and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Pharma & Health Conference organised in Hyderabad by Ficci and Pharmexcil.

“We are also proposing to provide interest subsidy for implementation of Schedule M of good manufacturing practices (GMP),” Reddy said. GMP norms lay down the basic rules for pharmaceutical manufacturers to achieve a zero-defect product of WHO-defined standards.

The government is also contemplating reviving the public sector pharmaceutical companies so as to ensure adequate availability of essential medicines at affordable prices.

“There are PSUs like the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) that come under this category,” she said. IDPL was declared a sick unit in 1992.

With regard to price-control mechanism for essential drugs, she said that 354 drugs had been listed for this purpose, of which 40 being supplied to hospitals were eliminated.

“We are contemplating bringing the remaining 314 drugs under the price control mechanism. The prices are likely to be determined on the basis of weighted average price mechanism,” she added.

[Nepal] Solidarity, dialogue and fighting poverty are needed in Asia, says the Pope

From asia News

In welcoming the new ambassador of Nepal to the Holy See, Benedict XVI urges Nepalese authorities to eradicate poverty and war. He is confident that full religious freedom will be achieved in the country.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – In accepting the letters of credentials of Nepal’s new envoy to the Holy See, Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his concern over the violence in that country and urged Asian nations to promote co-operation among themselves in the fight against war and poverty.

Quoting his predecessor John Paul II, the Pope said in English that “the advancement of the poor constitutes a great opportunity for the moral, cultural and even economic growth of all humanity”. Although John Paul II’s “appeal for greater solidarity [was] made to the international community as a whole, it has particular relevance for the countries of Asia.”

The Holy Father also expressed his concern for the wave of violence that has swept across Nepal.

“I pray that all parties will end the bloodshed which continues to cause so much suffering for the nation,” he said, urging all to “instead embrace the path of dialogue and negotiation. This alone can enable all the people of Nepal to enjoy justice, tranquility and harmony.”

“For her part,” Benedict XVI noted, “the Catholic Church also draws inspiration from the lofty principle of solidarity in her own commitment to serving the integral good of the human person.”

However small, the Catholic community of Nepal has “focused attention on the need to support the poor in the fight against poverty. The Church’s endeavours are not just an expression of her concern for the less-fortunate but illustrate her keen desire to work with government authorities for the spiritual and material well-being of every citizen.”

Christian schools are among the most respected and better known educational facilities in the country. Members of the government and of the elite have attended institutes run by the Jesuits.

The Pontiff concluded expressing his confidence that the “ongoing support for the legal guarantee of religious freedom will enable Christians to continue to fulfil their mission to preach the Good News of salvation and to bear witness to it through practical deeds of love and compassion.”

According to the last report by the Church-in-Need, even though the government does not normally interfere in the internal affairs of the various religious communities, freedom of worship faces some obstacles in nepal.

For instance the constitution bans proselytising and Christian groups have pointed out that this severely restricts the freedom of expression of people who adhere to religions other than Hinduism.

[Australia] Welfare changes 'may cause poverty'

From Business News

SINGLE parents and people with a mental disability could be driven into poverty by the Government's new welfare changes, a Liberal backbencher says.

The Government used its majority in the House of Representatives yesterday to ram through its Welfare to Work legislation.

The Senate is expected to approve the new laws next week.

But while the Government has made several amendments to the legislation, Liberal MP Judi Moylan, who abstained from voting in the Lower House, remained disappointed.

She feared many single parents and disabled people, particularly those with a mental disability, could end up worse off.

Ms Moylan said people on disability support pensions could be $91 a week worse off under the changes, while single parents could see their disposable incomes slide by 43 per cent.

"I believe it could drive some people into a deepening spiral of poverty," she said.

"These are people who are already barely making ends meet."

Ms Moylan said the Government had an opportunity to carry out meaningful welfare reform, but the provisions to push the disabled and single parents on to the New Start allowance were disappointing.

"The difficulty is that part of this legislation is totally supportable.

"The Government wants to help people back into the workforce and I think that's commendable.

"My concern rests with the change by moving people from the current disability support pension and the parenting payment on to the New Start allowance.

"That has some very serious ramifications in terms of loss of income support."

Ms Moylan said while some people would need encouragement to move from benefits into the workforce, those with mental illnesses would find it particularly hard.

"We know that employers continue to be reluctant to employ people with a mental disorder," she said.

"We've seen it a lot with people who have epilepsy, a reluctance to employ them.

"So there are some systemic problems that need to be addressed without cutting the income support for these people."

[John Edwards] Former Senator John Edwards speaks about America’s underprivileged

From The San Antonio Current

The deadly winds of Hurricane Katrina exposed the ugly face of poverty in the United States, former Senator John Edwards told an enraptured audience last week at Laurie Auditorium.

When bad things happen to poor people, it is harder for them to recover, and poverty has become the great moral issue facing this country, said Edwards, who has made a war on poverty his priority after losing a 2004 campaign for vice president.

Edwards visited the Trinity University campus to deliver a speech on “America - The Land of Opportunity.”

Why did so many New Orleans residents, many of them people of color, remain in that city when floodwaters poured into its streets? Because they had no way to get out, said Edwards of the disaster that hit the Gulf Coast late this summer. “Poor people were stuck in New Orleans. They live on the razor’s edge every day. New Orleans is a microcosm of what’s happening in America.”

Nobody in Congress speaks for the poor, who instead of being engaged in the political system, are engaged in merely staying alive. To help the poor, says Edwards, would make America bigger, better, and stronger. “There is a hunger for us to be involved in something big and important again. What we do together matters. It is enormously important to how we perceive ourselves.”

Edwards came from a working-class family in North Carolina. Solutions to fighting poverty include giving poor people a chance to work, and providing poor children with a chance to get an education by working up to 10 hours per week in exchange for tuition and books.

“It’s about breaking down barriers,” Edwards says. After the government’s failure in the New Orleans disaster, “we should know the world is watching us; they know about poverty and want to know what we’re going to do about it.”

Edwards also disavowed any intention to campaign on the Democratic ticket for president in 2008, saying instead that he would decide at a later date whether he would run for that office. “What I want you to do is help me fight poverty in this country. This is my cause, what I care about. If I can do something about this I’ll be proud of my life.”