The Drum Beat-75-Development Status: Communication Implications
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This Drum Beat looks at some recently released facts which, when taken
together, appear to tell a depressing story about global progress in
such areas as health, women, and HIV/AIDS. They raise questions about
whether these facts present what's really happening. Are we losing
ground on many fronts? If so, why? If not, where's the good news?
Though we have chosen these 3 themes, there is equally depressing data
from fields such as the environment, education and poverty alleviation
- 50% of the world's population lives on less than USD 2 per day.
This data also raises communication issues. Are governments, NGOs,
Foundations and others investing in the most appropriate communication
strategies? Can communication interventions contribute to making a sig-
nificant difference? If yes, how?
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1. HEALTH INVESTMENT
Excerpt from a speech at the Massive Effort Advocacy Campaign by Jef-
frey Sachs, Director of Centre for International Development Harvard
(10-23-00)
Source: Centre for International Development Harvard
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidinthenews/
When health is looked upon as an investment in the future of today's
poorest people, we must stand shocked at the extent of the under in-
vestment that we are making. In the world's poorest countries, national
investments are a mirror of national impoverishment. When a country at
$250 per capita makes an investment in public health of 3% of GDP that
translates into annual spending of just $7.50 per person per year. This
compares with public health spending of $3,000 to $5,000 per person in
the rich countries. Critics of foreign assistance sometimes mistakenly
argue that the basic problem of health care in the poorest countries is
mismanagement of health systems. I want to reject that view categori-
cally: there is no way to manage an efficient health system at $7.50
per capita. And there is no way that the world's poorest societies,
just barely surviving at current income levels, or perhaps not surviv-
ing, can manage much more than that out of their own resources. This is
especially true when debt service payments to governments, the World
Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, are draining more than the
annual budgets for health care.
2. IMMUNISATION
Source: Boston Globe story on the Stop TB Initiative site.
http://www.stoptb.org/material/news/press/Globe.001114.htm
10 years after UNICEF declared victory in reaching its goal of immuniz-
ing 80% of vulnerable populations around the world, many sub-Saharan
countries have fallen below 50% and in parts of India the situation is
scarcely better.
30 million of 130 million children born each year are not vaccinated.
Routine Immunization levels have fallen in Nigeria from 80% in 1990 to
27% in 1998, in Togo from 100% to 54%, in the Indian state of Uttar
Pradesh from 90% to 30%.
In spite of a World Health Assembly target that mortality from measles
would be reduced by 95% by 2000, in 1999 only 50% of African children
are immunized against measles.
900,000 mostly African children die from measles each year.
3. CHILD AND MATERNAL HEALTH
Source: World Bank
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf/673fa6c5a2d50a67852
565e200692a79/782647f741975e0f85256996004cb771?OpenDocument
-Nicaragua: Poor women have more than 6 children - rich women have
less than 2.
-Bolivia and Turkey: mortality rates for children under 5 are 4x's
higher for the poorest 20% compared to the richest 20%.
-Indonesia: a poor teenager is 5x's more likely to bear a child than a
rich one.
-Sub-Saharan Africa: 40% of poor children are immunized compared to 70%
of rich children.
-Bangladesh: a rich woman is 15x's more likely to have a medical pro-
fessional attending her birth than a poor woman.
4. WATER AND SANITATION
Source: UNWire Source: UNWire
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/archives/show_article.cfm?
article=15140
-2.4 billion people lack an acceptable means of sanitation.
-18% of the world's population lacks even a basic water supply.
-300 million Africans lack a fixed water supply.
Each year there are 4 billion cases of diarrhoea linked to improper hy-
giene and unsafe water causing 2.2 million deaths.
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5. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Source: UNFPA http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2000/english/ch1.html
-80 million unwanted pregnancies
-20 million unsafe abortions
-500,000 maternal deaths (99% in developing countries)
-333 million new STI's annually (5 female for every male infection)
6. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Source: Changemakers
http://www.changemakers.net/journal/00december/ray.cfm
90,000 women all over India, aged 15-49, were interviewed and the re-
sults of the survey are chilling:
Women who justified beating: 56%
Rural: 60%
Urban 47%
Reasons for the 'rod':
Neglecting home: 40%
Goes out without permission: 37%
Disrespect to in-laws: 34%
Unfaithful: 33%
Bad cook: 25%
Money: 7%
7. GENDER AND POVERTY
Source: WHO http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact251.html
-70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are female
-There are 2x as many women as men among the world's 900 million illit-
erates
-Iron deficiency anaemia affects half as many men as women
-On average, women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work
In 20 developing countries, under-5 mortality was found to be greatest
among women with no education, and in rural agricultural communities
There is still little data and information available about the health
status of the bottom 20% of the world's poorest people - of which women
are bound to comprise a high proportion.
500,000 women die unnecessarily from pregnancy-related complications
each year, the causes of which are exacerbated by issues of poverty and
remoteness.
8. HIV/AIDS
Source: UNAIDS
http://www.unaids.org/epidemic_update/report_dec00/index_dec.html
-5.3 million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV this year.
-36.1 million people now live with HIV or AIDS.
-21.8 million people have died from AIDS since the epidemic began
-Over 13 million children have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.
Sub-Saharan Africa
-3.8 million people were infected with HIV this year.
-25.3 million now live with HIV or AIDS.
-2.4 million people died of AIDS this year, up 200,000 from last year.
-South Africa alone is estimated to lose 22 billion US$ due to AIDS by
2010.
9. TUBERCULOSIS
Source: STOP TB Initiative
http://www.stoptb.org/world.tb.day/WTBD_2001/FactSheet.TBHIV.htm
-Of the 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), more than 11
million are young people aged 15 to 24.
-One-third of all PLWHA worldwide are co-infected with Mycobacterium
tuberculosis (the germ that causes TB).
-More than 25 million PWHA live in Africa, at least 90% do not know that they are HIV-positive.
Tuberculosis is a leading killer worldwide of PWHA.
Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia are the regions most badly affected by the global TB/HIV co-epidemic: 68% of those co-infected live in sub-Saharan Africa; 22% live in South-East Asia.
Up to 70% of patients with sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB (the in
fectious form of TB affecting the lungs) are HIV-positive.
Up to 50% of PLWHA develop TB.
Only 20-25% of all TB patients worldwide have access to effective diag-
nosis and treatment.
10. AGRICULTURE AND HIV/AIDS
Source: FAO http://www.fao.org/Focus/E/aids/aids6-e.htm
Aids has killed 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 and will kill
an estimated further 16 million by 2020. This is already severely af-
fecting household food security.
In Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture 58% of all staff deaths are due to
AIDS and in Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture at least 16% of the staff
are living with HIV/AIDS. The loss of these people is undermining the
ability of these Ministries to develop expert trained staff and to plan
for agricultural development.
In the 1st 10 months of 1998, Zambia lost 1,300 teachers to AIDS, this
is equal to 2 thirds of all teachers trained annually. Skilled people
are dying before they can gain experience and pass on knowledge.
*** If you have facts that you think should be highlighted in Base
Line please send them to Chris Morry mailto:cmorry@comminit.com. We
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grammes. ***
This issue compiled by Chris Morry cmorry@comminit.com
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