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Declaring that
Africa is facing its worst humanitarian crisis
in history, James T. Morris, the head of the
UN World Food Programme (WFP) called
for aid to be used not just as a ‘band aid’ in
emergencies but as part of a long-term strategy
to enhance the self-reliance of African people.
“Responding to emergencies is not enough,”
Morris explained at the recent International
Conference on
African Development (TICADIII).
The three-day conference brought together
African leaders, top officials from the Japanese
Government and the UN.
“We need to work in the
quiet times as well, on long-term projects that
root out hunger, poverty and dependency.” Such
strategies should rebuild communities, the local
economy and agricultural development so that
people can better cope when
disasters strike.
More than any other continent Africa is prone to
cyclical drought and other weather disturbances
that can decimate food production. With more
than 40 million people
going hungry this year
the need for aid has reached unprecedented
levels Morris said. To meet Africa’s food needs
for 2003 the WFP needs $2 billion; equal to its
total worldwide budget for 2002. Citing the
particular scourge that HIV/AIDS has brought to
Africa, he noted that food aid builds a safety
net for the affected families. School meals,
nutritional supplements and income training
programmes that complement food distribution
help families affected by HIV/AIDS, especially
women and children, become better equipped to
face the future, both during and after the loss
of those infected with the disease.
The situation in Africa seems to be worsening
and everyone is asking if countries on the
continent will meet the
United Nations’ eight
Millennium Development Goals
by
the target date
of 2015. The goals are aimed at reducing poverty
and disease, promoting access to basic services,
improving gender equity, tackling major killers
like HIV/AIDS and malaria (both rife in Africa)
and ensuring a sustainable environment. The man
in charge
of implementing the
UN Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), Salil Shetty,
told the
BBC that Africa has every chance of meeting the
2015 deadline – if leaders are pressured to do
so. Mr. Shetty stressed the role of people
themselves in dragging the continent out of the
various crises the MDGs are targeting. "The
goals are going to be achieved only if the
African people want them to be achieved," he
said. "The people of Africa will have to hold
their leaders to account for the promises
they've made – sometimes a bit rashly." He
emphasised the need to pressure governments,
saying,
"In some other places it might be a set
of aspirations, but
I think in the case of
Africa it's the difference between life and
death. It's as stark as that because millions of
Africans die every year. These are women, these
are children, and these are people living with
AIDS. That's really what the goals are about," Shetty said. He also called on richer Western
nations to increase aid and reduce the demands
of debt repayments.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
administrator reaffirmed that Africa may only
halve poverty by 2147 and not by 2015. Speaking
at TICAD III he said, "What is missing is
political will. And building it on the scale
required is not easy, so it is especially urgent
that a process such as TICAD shows us the way in
making the global partnership for development a
reality, mobilising the resources so vitally
needed for Africa's development."
He indicated
that there were signs of progress on the
continent with a number of countries achieving
sustained growth rates close to the 7 or 8%
needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by 2015. He said
we can see, “How the
challenge of achieving the MDGs remains most
daunting in Africa; nearly one in every six
African children dies before the age of five –
unchanged from a decade ago and overall primary
school enrolment
is still below 60%." The UNDP
administrator affirmed that while HIV/AIDS,
malaria and poverty were devastating
crises for
Africa, poverty was not inevitable. |
