MDGs: a distant dream by Mr. Naseer Memon

Source : Dawn

Date: December 1, 2010

THE Planning Commission of Pakistan recently released the fourth national report on progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

This document has been released after a long wait, with the last one appearing for 2006. While it is informative in terms of the dismal progress on almost all major MDG indicators, it conceals inter-provincial and intra-provincial disparities that were presented in the last report.

The period covered by the latest reports — 2006 to present — was marked by terrorist attacks, anti-terrorist operations and the displacement of several thousand people. Further, these years also saw a global recession, nose-diving foreign direct investment in the country (from $5.13bn in 2006-07 to $2.21bn in 2009-10), the GDP growth going into a tailspin (from seven per cent in 2006-07 to 2.1 per cent in 2008-09) and skyrocketing inflation (from 7.9 per cent in 2006-07 to 13.1 per cent in 2008-09). This was also a period of tumultuous political transition. Now, Pakistan is poised to miss almost all the MDG targets.

The primary MDG relates to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. The consumer-based economic growth model of the Musharraf era was presented as the Pakistani economy`s golden period. However, it is riddled with sharply rising economic inequalities. A higher GDP growth rate during the Musharraf era created a smokescreen of wellbeing. However, there is strong evidence that economic disparities actually increased.

The Musharraf government conjured up figures to claim that poverty had declined from 34.5 per cent in 2001-02 to 22.3 per cent in 2005-06, with a too-good-to-be-true 12.3 per cent decline in just five years. These figures were disputed by the then chief economist. And even if this miracle is postulated, the recession in the subsequent years and the recent floods have pushed more people below the poverty line. Halving poverty from 26 per cent in 1990 to 13 per cent by 2015 appears next to impossible.

The second MDG was to achieve universal primary education. Pakistan has the lowest adult literacy rate in the region and is second only to Nigeria in out-of-school children. The current net enrolment rate is less than 60 per cent, which implies that the target of 100 per cent enrolment requires a more than 40 per cent points` increase by 2015. Given that during the past 10 years Pakistan barely achieved 16 per cent points, it is unrealistic to hope for target achievement. Furthermore, nearly half the enrolled students do not complete their education and achieving a survival rate of 88 per cent in the years remaining is practically impossible.

Pakistan was supposed to establish gender parity at the primary and secondary education levels by 2005. This target has already been missed. True, there has been a steady improvement; for example the proportion of 15-24 year old literate females as compared to boys has increased from 0.51 in 1990-91 to 0.78 in 2008-09. Yet achieving parity needs further serious effort. Women`s representation in legislative forums has increased tremendously, but the journey from representation to real empowerment will have to traverse rocky terrain.

The mortality rate of children under five has declined from 117 per 1,000 live births in 1990-91 to 94 per 1,000 in 2006-07, against an MDG target of 52 by 2015. The infant mortality rate declined from 102 to 75 per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2007, against the MDG target of 65. The proportion of fully immunised children of 12 to 23 months in age also indicates a stagnant trend. It increased marginally from 75 per cent in 1990-91 to 78 per cent in 2008-09, against the target of over 90 per cent by 2015.

The number of mothers dying due to pregnancy and delivery-related complications per 100,000 live births has declined significantly from 533 in 1990-91 to 276 in 2006-07. However, the rate is still much higher than the target of 140 by 2015. Similarly, the proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendants increased from 18 per cent in 1990-91 to 41 per cent in 2008-09. Yet it remains much lower than the targeted 90 per cent by 2015. Pakistan`s current total fertility rate is 3.75 and that is to be lowered to 2.1 by 2015.

Meanwhile, several reports by independent sources suggest that Pakistan does not put in the desired efforts towards environmental sustainability. The forest cover increased marginally from 4.8 per cent of the land mass in 1990-91 to 5.02 per cent in 2008-09. The MDG target is six per cent. Conservation organisations consider even these figures exaggerated.

Pakistan has, however, surpassed the target of CNG-run vehicles from a targeted 920,000 to 2,220,000. Yet the population with sustainable access to safe drinking water is at 65 per cent against the targeted 93 per cent. The quality of this drinking water is also a moot question. Similarly, access to sanitation is enjoyed by only 63 per cent against the MDG target of 90 per cent.

Pakistan is a long way from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. More than monetary resources, what is required is the political will to prioritise human development in the country. In its current shape, Pakistan is the embodiment of a security state where human development barely attracts attention. N

An analysis of the national budgets reveals how the wellbeing of the citizens has been ignored. Pakistan`s first national budget of 1948 allocated more than 70 per cent of the total resources to defence; this lunacy was never reversed. Even in today`s world of knowledge-based societies our allocation for education and health is shamefully the lowest in the region.

The writer is the chief executive of the non-profit Strengthening Participatory Organisation. nmemon@spopk.org

 

Steps urged to ensure affordable health services for all

Source: The News

Date: November 30, 2010

The United Nations health agency has mapped out what countries can do, including raising more funds and spending it more efficiently, to ensure that everyone who needs health care can access it despite rising costs. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that governments worldwide are struggling to pay for health care, which is rising as populations get older, as more people suffer chronic diseases, and as new and more expensive treatments appear.

 It says that in countries that depend heavily on people paying directly for services at the point of delivery, health bills push 100 million people into poverty each year.

 In its annual World Health Report, the agency shows how all countries, rich and poor, can adjust their health financing mechanisms so more people get the health care they need. It highlights three key areas where change can happen — raising more funds for health, raising money more fairly, and spending it more efficiently. 

“No one in need of health care should have to risk financial ruin as a result,” said WHO Director General Margaret Chan. “The report sets out a stepwise approach. We encourage every country to act on this and do at least one thing to improve health financing and increase health coverage over the coming year.” 

WHO says that in many cases, governments can allocate more money for health. In 2000, African heads of state committed to spend 15 per cent of government funds on health, a goal that three countries — Liberia, Rwanda and Tanzania — have already achieved.

 If the governments of the world’s 49 poorest countries each allocated 15 per cent of state spending to health, they could raise an additional $15 billion per year — almost doubling the funds available, notes the agency.

 Countries can also generate more money for health through more efficient tax collection, says WHO, which cited as an example Indonesia, which has boosted revenue by 10 percentage points. 

View the link for details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/30-11-2010/Islamabad/18022.htm

The population problem

Source: Dawn

Date: November 29, 2010

THERE are two aspects to the issue of population. First, there is the provincial divide and second, population growth. The latter became excessive in the 1960s. At the time of the 1971 census, population growth was 3.6 per cent per annum.

By the time of the 1981 census, a provincial problem took over. Due to migration to Karachi, the percentage of the population in Sindh had increased as compared to Punjab and the then NWFP. Reportedly, when this information was put before the cabinet the two governors, Gen Jilani and Gen Fazle Haq, hit the roof.

President Ziaul Haq asked Dr Mahbub ul Haq to `correct` it, after which the rate of population growth became 3.1 per cent. In all likelihood, Sindh`s population had been reduced causing a reduction in the rate of growth. No census was undertaken in 1991 and the next census took place in 1997/98 when Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N were in power. That census commissioner has been quoted as saying: “I have to make sure no individual in Sindh can call himself two.” The objective was fairly clear; numbers were adjusted.

Currently, some people express fears in terms of Karachi`s population, which is estimated to be somewhere between 14 and 15 million. According to Wikipedia it is 18 million. Because of provincial problems, this is going to cause a lot of confusion. Population parity between Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh will become an issue. In Karachi, it may lead to trouble between the PPP, the ANP and the MQM.

In terms of Pakistan`s total population, there are two views. Official sources put the figure at 171 million, while the UN puts it at 185 million. The rate of growth poses an additional problem. The UN estimates that childbirth in Pakistan will increase by 28 million by 2015.

The rate of birth is extremely important because of its effect on economic growth. The retrogression analysis says that a one per cent increase in childbirth rates leads to slightly more than one per cent decrease in economic growth rate. This is happening in Pakistan. Meanwhile, economic growth also appears to play a role in reducing birth rates. The use of contraceptives rose from 11.8 per cent in 1991 to 27.6 per cent by 2001. From then to 2007, this rate rose to only 30 per cent. Something obviously went seriously wrong.

Something will have to be done to prevent the population from rising to 206 million by 2015. According to the UN, 5.589 million births per year will take place between 2010 and 2015. How many extra `birth preventions` are possible by then?

If serious success is not achieved, Pakistan will have between 25 and 28 million children under the age of five by 2015. How will they be looked after? Large family sizes are more common amongst the poor, particularly in the rural areas. The challenge is to persuade these people to aim for a better life by reducing their family sizes, and to provide them with contraceptive support.

A related issue is that of mother and child health. Ideally, pregnancies should be spaced about three years apart to protect infant and mother. Infant mortality is the first issue, and then there is the question of how many children can properly be supported on the income available to the family. There is hope that matters can be managed. Some surveys have found a 25 to 40 per cent demand or need for lower birth rates in the poorer sections of the citizenry — a demand that is going unmet. The question is, how competently can we work to help?

For more details please view the link: http://www.dawn.com/2010/11/29/the-population-problem.html

 

Workshop on violence against women ends (Organized by SPO)

Source: The News

Date: November 25, 2010

A three-day training workshop aimed at developing networks for addressing violence against women, girls and vulnerable groups in flood affected areas concluded here on Wednesday.

Organised by Strengthening Participatory Organisations (SPO) and Sisters Trust Pakistan (STP), the workshop titled ‘Women’s Leadership Role in Flood Affected Area to End Gender Based Violence,’ provided training mainly on tools for addressing women concerns in relation to their rehabilitation and reconstruction requirements. Federal Minister for Human Rights Mumtaz Alam Gilani was the chief guest on the occasion. 
These master trainers from eight different districts will now go to their indigenous area to train other women and ultimately form networks that can protect women at the time of relief or rehabilitation after any calamity. 

The eight districts included Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan, Muzzafargarh, Rajanpur, Thatta, Sukker, Naseerabad and Jafferabad. The training made part of the activities conducted on 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. Through variety of activities, the participants were introduced to the definition and different aspects of gender based violence. They were also taught about the techniques to deal with psychosocial issues that emerge after such situation and ways to provide counselling to the victims especially women and children. Participants that originally belong to flood affected areas also shared their stories. They said that one of the major problem women faced were the provision of separate washrooms. They said that due to conservative social set up, majority of women hesitated to demand for the facility.

They pointed out social discrimination created hurdles in the way of access to aid for women headed households. They said that women networks at community level can help to point out such issues to aid workers so that all vulnerable groups can be involved in relief and rehabilitation activities. 
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister Mumtaz Alam Gilani said that types of human rights violations are different in different parts of the country and culture friendly measures are required to deal with them accordingly.

He said that before the establishment of Ministry of Human Rights, the matters related to human rights were dealt by the Interior Ministry that is the biggest violator of human rights itself. He said that the ministry plans to commemorate human rights week that will start from December 3 and will end at the International Day on Human Rights on December 10.

Highlighting the significance of 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence, Country Director for United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) Alice Shackleford said that activism should not end with the end of these days, as it is a continuing process. She said that these days are observed to depict that woman rights are the human rights. 

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day on Violence against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasise that such violence is a human rights violation. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. 
Sisters Trust Pakistan Executive Director Rehana Hashmi stressed for increasing the role of women and girls in relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation phase through enhanced leadership skills and protection networks. Senator from Balochistan Surrya Amirudin and First Secretary Development of Netherlands Embassy were also present on the occasion. 

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/25-11-2010/islamabad/17175.htm

'Blasphemy law not to be repealed'

Source: Express Tribune

Date: November 24, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The government will not repeal the controversial blasphemy law but may amend it to prevent abuse because scrapping the legislation could fuel militancy, a government minister said on Tuesday.

The law came under the spotlight this month after a court sentenced a Christian mother of four, Aasia Bibi, to death in a case stemming from a village dispute.

Widespread media attention on the case has led to renewed appeals by human rights groups for the repeal of the law, but Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said that would not happen.

“(Repeal) is not being considered though we are considering changing it so that misuse of the law can be stopped,” Bhatti told a news agency.

Blasphemy convictions are common although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but angry mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.

Bhatti said consultations with Islamic clerics and representatives of religious minorities on amending the law would soon be held.

He said repealing it is not being considered because that could provoke religious parties and militants who want to topple the government.

“We have to analyse what the reaction of those having intolerant attitudes will be,” Bhatti said. “At this point our aim is to stop its misuse.”

Critics say the law can be misused by people making false accusations against rivals.

Liberal and secular groups say the law discriminates against religious minorities who make up roughly four per cent of the country’s 170 million population. Most members of minorities are Christian.

Bhatti said an initial inquiry into the case of the Christian mother suggested she had not committed blasphemy but was falsely accused after a quarrel.

Bibi, the first woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, has appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her.

“It will take few more days. We are looking into different things, not just pardon. She could get relief from the courts,” Bhatti said. Authorities are providing Bibi with security in jail and her family has also moved for safety reasons, he said.

Link: http://tribune.com.pk/story/81007/blasphemy-law-not-to-be-repealed/

 

 

Pomegranate juice could help kidney patients

Source: The News

Date: November 23, 2010

There may be a seed of truth amidst the many health claims for pomegranate juice, researchers said, at least for kidney patients on dialysis. 
They found that such patients who gulped a few cups of the tart liquid every week lowered their chances of infections, the second-leading killer of the more than 350,000 Americans on dialysis.

The findings were presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s meeting in Denver — aka Renal Week — and have not yet been vetted by independent experts. “It’s a very intriguing study,” said Dr. Frank Brosius, who heads the nephrology division at the University of Michigan Health System and was not involved in the research.

“I certainly don’t know of anything else that would have such a profound effect,” he told Reuters Health, cautioning at the same time that the study needed to be replicated by other centres.

The results come in the wake of a US crackdown on allegedly false adver tising by POM Wonderful, which claims its pomegranate products can help everything from heart disease to prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction.The researchers, led by Dr. Batya Kristal of Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya, did not use POM juice, but a brand sold by Naturafood.

In laboratory tests, Kristal told Reuters Health, that brand ranked highest in polyphenol antioxidants, which can reduce cell damage caused by so-called free radicals.Antioxidants are found in different levels in fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries or broccoli.
“Pomegranate juice was shown in the last three years to contain the highest levels of polyphenols among a variety of products,” Kristal said. 

The researchers figured an antioxidant-rich diet might help patients with kidney failure, because the level of free radicals in their blood increases as the blood circulates through the dialysis device. That, in turn, may rev up inflammation in their tissues.

In the study, funded by the Israeli Ministry of Health, 101 patients were randomly assigned to either a concoction without pomegranate juice, or the real thing.

After downing about half a cup three times a week over a year, those who drank the real thing had a reduction of inflammatory molecules in their blood. They also made fewer trips to the hospital.“We found significant reductions in hospitalization due to infections, with more than 40 percent reduction in the first hospitalization and 80 percent in the second,” said Kristal.

For more details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/23-11-2010/Islamabad/16786.htm

Devolution of minorities' ministry opposed

Source: Dawn

Date: November 16, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: At a time when the Parliamentary Commission on Implementation of the 18th Amendment is reviewing the process of devolution of ministries and departments under clauses on provincial autonomy, a National Assembly standing committee opposed on Monday the plan to transfer the Ministry of Minorities Affairs from the centre to the provinces.Members of the Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs, which met under its chairman Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, were of the unanimous view that the ministry should not be transferred to the provinces because it would create complications in legislation of personal laws.

Ramesh Lal of the Pakistan People’s Party told Dawn there was complete unanimity among the 10 minority members belonging to different parties that the ministry should remain at the centre.

He said they had already written letters to the government in this regard and they would soon write to Senator Raza Rabbani, the chairman of the implementation commission, asking him to review the decision.

Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti justified the committee’s recommendation and said the minorities had always been treated at the national level which was evident even from the country’s flag in which white colour represented the minorities.

He said the move to transfer the ministry to the provinces could affect international treaties and conventions that the country had signed and which made it binding upon the government to protect the rights of the minorities.

For more details: http://www.dawn.com/2010/11/16/devolution-of-minorities%E2%80%99-ministry-opposed.html