Fwd: African Nations Take Loans to Advance Towards Millennium Development Goals

Eight African nations announced that they are taking on $104 million in zero-interest loans to combat extreme poverty, improve public health and achieve more sustainable development. I've copied the release below for more information.

 

The loans will finance three major programs:

·         Scale-ups of existing Millennium Villages Project sites in Mali, Senegal and Uganda

·         A new, flagship Sustainable Villages Program  in Chad, Mozambique, and Sudan

·         Implementation of the Drylands Initiative, which builds resiliency to climate change, in Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda

 

The Earth Institute, led by its Millennium Development Goals Centers in East and West Africa, and Millennium Promise, will provide similar guidance to the nations involved in the new initiative; however, acceptance of this loan signifies a tremendous commitment on the part of African countries to take ownership over progress towards development and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

 

 

 

ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK AND EARTH INSTITUTE PARTNER TO MEET MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN RURAL AFRICA

 

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA, August 13, 2013:  The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Earth Institute (Columbia University) formed a partnership in 2011 to work with African nations to support their efforts to end extreme poverty. The IsDB and the Earth Institute and its partner, Millennium Promise, are pleased to announce that the IsDB and its poverty reduction arm, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), have now extended more than $100 million in financing to help eight African nations combat extreme poverty, improve public health and achieve more sustainable development.

 

In each of these projects, host governments will partner with the IsDB, the Earth Institute and Millennium Promise to carry out the projects. The Earth Institute, led by its Millennium Development Goals Centers in East and West Africa, and Millennium Promise, will provide technical, operational and scientific guidance to the nations involved in the new initiative.

 

"The Islamic Development Bank is showing great and innovative leadership in addressing poverty in its member states," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute.  "In these new programs, the bank is applying cutting-edge methods to the fight against poverty, hunger and disease. It is a privilege and honor to be working along with the IsDB on this bold undertaking."

 

The combined $104 million will finance three major programs:

 

·   The ISFD's new flagship Sustainable Villages Program (SVP) in Chad, Mozambique, and Sudan ($40 million)

·   Scale-ups of the Millennium Villages Project in Mali, Senegal and Uganda ($29 million) 

·   Implementation of the Drylands Initiative in Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda ($35 million)

 

Spearheading the financing initiative is IsDB's president,  Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, who explained, "Alleviating poverty is part of the IsDB's Mission, and it will be better achieved if we cooperate with parties that have successful experience in the field. This is why IsDB, many member countries of which are among the least developed in the world, is partnering with the Earth Institute, which brings rich practical expertise that will help us ensure that our financing is effective."

 

The $104 million will be provided in the form of Islamic finance (long-term repayments at zero interest rates) to the recipient  countries, except in the case of a grant provided to Somalia. All of these countries are members of the bank.

 

"This new partnership between the Islamic Development Bank, Earth Institute, Millennium Promise, the MDG Centers and the eight Africa nations is a true measure of the steadfast commitment of all to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Amadou Niang, director of the MDG Centre for West Africa. "The countries have seen first-hand the impacts of the Millennium Villages project. The fact that they are now taking loans to bring lessons learned to scale across nations is tremendous testament to their ownership of the development program. We are very proud to work with these nations and the Islamic Development Bank to scale-up and help realize their vision and dedication to the MDGs."

 

The Islamic Development Bank's Sustainable Villages Project^[1] builds on the experience gained over the past seven years in the Millennium Village Project (MVP, www.millenniumvillages.org), as well as the bank's long-standing and extensive work throughout Africa in fighting poverty. Both the MVP and SVP include an integrated package of science-based services and technologies to help rural African communities to improve public health, agriculture, education and standard of living. 

 

For the SVP, the Millennium Villages Project team will provide technical and operational advice to the governments of Sudan, Chad and Mozambique in Africa, and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, where the Sustainable Villages Project will be carried out. The aims are to accelerate deployment and implementation of innovative technologies and ensure that lessons learned in the Millennium Villages inform the design of the new programs, and that the systems in health, education and agriculture are up to national and international standards.

 

In support of the request of the bank's member countries, the IsDB is also providing financing to Mali, Senegal and Uganda to scale-up the existing Millennium Village work with the help of the Millennium Villages Project.

 

In addition, the Islamic Development Bank will be financing dryland nations including Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda, all facing tremendous sustainable development challenges, to implement interventions aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals and increasing resilience to droughts and other climate shocks. The Millennium Villages project will provide both advice and technical development expertise to the nations.

 

"Millennium Village interventions can be adapted to improve lives in even the most challenging contexts," said Belay Begashaw, director of the MDG Centre for East Africa. "Our long-term solution to boosting resilience of communities to weather shocks and diminishing the reliance on emergency relief is now serving as an important model for many parts of Africa beyond the current MVP host countries. Best practices and cutting-edge technologies of the MVP will now support the regional effort to escape the scourges of extreme poverty and famine. We are proud to work with IsDB on this exciting effort."

 

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Maternal care and provision in South Sudan

 

                               

 

 

Giving birth in South Sudan, a matter of life and death

 

Women in the community of Ikotos face treacherous journey into motherhood

 

Poor infrastructure and capacity to provide access to maternal care in South Sudan means that only 19- % of births are attended by a skilled medical worker, according to emerge poverty free, a charity committed to poverty alleviation. 

 

All Nations Christian Care (ANCC), a partner of emerge poverty free working in Ikotos, South Sudan, found that lack of access to basic medical services and poor preparation during pregnancy results in dangerous home deliveries, in a country with one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world.

 

Due to a limited number of health care centres, only 35% of women in Ikotos have access to maternity medical facilities.

Preparations during pregnancy are poor because would-be mothers need to continue agricultural work right up until they go into labour. A result of this is that many pregnant women are not attending regular clinical check-ups and, some mothers are caught unaware when going into labour.

 

The most urgently needed medical supplies for clinics are- birthing kits, hospital beds, antibiotics, and disinfectant. Other recommendations from ANCC include educating communities on proper nutrition, birth preparation, and personal hygiene, as well as the benefits of pregnant women knowing their HIV/ AIDS status.

 

In Ikotos, a town in the East of South Sudan, ANCC discovered that limited means of transport and poor infrastructure further complicate the provision of maternal care.

 

Poor data collection on birth rates, due to the civil war, a lack of resources, qualified personnel and resistance from the local community, causes yet more issues.  Commenting, ANCC said: "There is reluctance by the new mother's to balance trust between the rigid traditions and the modern health practices".

 

Commenting on the plight of pregnant women in Ikotos, Jeremy Horner, Director of emerge poverty free, said:

"For these women, the extent to which they can access basic medical services can potentially be the difference between life and death. Women in Ikotos, South Sudan, face poor access to even the most basic medical services, and are expected to carry out physically taxing work throughout their pregnancy".

 

emerge poverty free (Registered Charity no. 1045672) is a small yet highly effective charity based in the UK. We empower people across the world to overcome poverty.

 

ANCC have been working across Eastern Africa since the 1980s, supporting vulnerable social groups affected by war.

 

Mother and child, Ikotos village, South Sudan

 

Fwd: Global Data Collection is Hiding the Truth about the Health of Ethnic Minorities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8^th August

 

Data Collection is Hiding the Truth about the Health of Ethnic Minorities

 

A new report calling for health data to be broken down by ethnicity has been published by international development organisation Health Poverty Action, ahead of the International Day of the World's Indigenous People this Friday.

 

Health Poverty Action is calling for the measurement of any new goals on health and wider development to be broken down by ethnicity in the run up to the UN high level meeting on the new framework for international development in September. In May the High Level Panel report, which will inform the UN's deliberations, called for a 'data revolution,' but it failed to make a clear call for data to be disaggregated by ethnicity.

 

Working in 13 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, Health Poverty Action works in partnership with marginalised communities struggling for health. These communities are often indigenous and ethnic minorities. They face many barriers to health care and experience significantly worse health outcomes than the majority of the population, but this is hidden in most countries because health data is not broken down by ethnicity. 

 

This report states that to improve global health we must disaggregate data by ethnicity and shine a light on the true health status of ethnic and cultural minority groups.

 

The report is part of the Mothers on the Margins campaign and has a focus on maternal health amongst ethnic and cultural minority groups.

 

The report covers:

 

•                    Why it is vital that major health surveys and governments disaggregate health data by ethnicity.

•                    An analysis of current practices in the collection of health data.

•                    Recommendations for overcoming the barriers to obtaining and using ethnically disaggregated data including analysis of proxy indicators such as language or geographical region.

•                    Examples from Ethiopia, Laos, Namibia and Guatemala that illustrate the vast differences in health outcomes experienced by ethnic minority groups and majority group populations.

 

 

Sarah Edwards, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Health Poverty Action, comments:

 

"Around the world there are marginalised communities that experience extreme poverty and poor health, and we must use every tool we have to end this, including disaggregating data by ethnicity. 

 

"When it comes to improving maternal health the world has achieved a lot but many ethnic minority communities have been left behind; in some countries, indigenous women can be twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than women from the majority population.

 

"If we continue to ignore this we are effectively turning our back on the most marginalised communities on our planet. We have the capacity to identify the different health statuses of minority groups. To improve health policies and ultimately, save lives, we must do it."

 

Read the full report here.

 

 

Ends

 

Health Poverty Action is a registered charity (no. 290535). We work to strengthen poor and marginalised people in their struggle for health. We currently work in 13 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

 

We work alongside local communities around the world for access to quality health services for all, as well as working on areas such as nutrition, water, sanitation, and income generation, tackling all the factors that impact on health.

 

www.healthpovertyaction.org

 

For further information please contact:

Rosa Ellis

0207 840 3744

07821 008 145

r.ellis@healthpovertyaction.org

Health Poverty Action, Ground Floor, 31-33 Bondway, London, SW8 1SJ 

Switchboard: 020 7840 3777