OneWorld.net (U.S.)

OneWorld.net note: Latin America and the Caribbean have made significant progress toward the Millennium Development Goals but strategic action must be taken to ensure that rising food and fuels prices don't reverse gains made in terms of infant mortality, hunger, and poverty reduction, say UN experts.

Colombian families are benefitting from the advances made toward the MDGs. © ACCION International

• Colombia is well on course toward accomplishing Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number six, improving HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and reducing prevalence. Specifically in Colombia's case, this means the country "has to maintain the prevalence of the HIV infection under 1.2%, reduce the AIDS-related mortality rate as well as prenatal transmission, and increase the use of protection methods, including the condom, particularly among youth," writes Colombian health expert Angela Castellanos. Indeed, the Colombian Ministry of Social Protection along with UNAIDS-Colombia recently unveiled a revised national HIV/AIDS plan that will move toward universal access to treatment and stem the feminization of AIDS in Colombia.

• UN officials met during the International Congress on Disasters in Havana last week to address the impact of disasters on poverty reduction. "The impact of the disasters slows down progress. What could be invested in education and health has to be spent on reconstruction," said Linda Zilbert, a UNDP expert on crisis recovery. Latin American nations must develop disaster management plans to mitigate the rise in poverty that follows disasters and stay on track toward the MDG of reducing poverty, writes the Inter-Press Service in an article about the meeting.

• In recent years, the middle class in Latin American countries such as Mexico and Brazil has grown while poverty rates have decreased, reports the ethnic media coalition, New America Media. However, rising food prices and inflation threaten to reverse this trend and push 15 million Latin Americans below the poverty line. Prices for staple foods such as milk, tortillas, corn, and rice have increased dramatically over the last couple of months.

U.N. Experts Warn on New Threats to MDG Progress in Latin America and the Caribbean

From: Pan American Health Organization

Washington, D.C., July 25, 2008 (PAHO)— Top United Nations experts on Latin America and the Caribbean warned this week that global economic shocks could throw some 16 million people of the Americas into extreme poverty, threatening important gains toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the region.

Concluding a two-day meeting at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional directors of 13 United Nations agencies promised joint action to ensure continued progress on the MDGs in the Americas over the next two years.

"Latin America and the Caribbean have made real advances toward fulfilling the MDGs, particularly in areas like infant mortality, hunger and poverty reduction," said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago. "But not all groups have benefited equally, and the new global developments are a real threat to our progress. We need to mobilize and coordinate development action among U.N. agencies and the region's governments to continue to fight poverty and promote sustainable and equitable development."

Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), noted that the region has already reduced the proportion of the population living in poverty (MDG-1) from 48 percent in 1990 to 35 percent in 2007, thanks to sustained economic growth over the past decade coupled with poverty reduction strategies.

"But this still leaves 190 million poor people, of which 70 million are extremely poor," she said. An additional 16 million people could be forced into extreme poverty as a result of the global economic slowdown that began in mid-2007, primarily due to declining remittances, slower growth in exports, and lower prices on manufacturing exports, she said.

Under their joint action plan, the U.N. agencies will:

* Develop a joint assessment of the impact of higher food prices and other external shocks on hunger, poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, using common data and indicators.
* Define a set of integrated development actions that address the needs of the most vulnerable population groups, including indigenous people, Afro-descendants, women, youths and migrants.
* Mobilize resources from governments and international donors to support these actions.
* Support the use of a new "Atlas of Vulnerability" developed by PAHO and ECLAC's population division (CELADE) to identify areas and population groups with the most urgent development needs.
* Support ongoing integral development projects in cross-border areas, including Central America's Mosquito Coast, South America's Chaco region, the Amazonian tri-border area, and the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru.
* Launch a new Pan American Alliance for Nutrition and Development to coordinate and promote the U.N. agencies' efforts to fight hunger and improve nutrition, particularly among vulnerable groups.

PAHO Director Roses noted that, despite overall improvements in nutritional status at the aggregate level in Latin America and the Caribbean, 52 million people in the region are still undernourished,and 9 million children under 5 are chronically malnourished. The Pan American Alliance for Nutrition and Development would promote better nutrition not just through food production and distribution but with abroad range of actions, ranging from safer cooking stoves and safe water to urban agriculture and sustainable use of natural resources.

Nils Kastberg, UNICEF regional director, told the group: "We must take action, and we must focus on the issue of equity. If not, we're going to miss the groups who need the MDGs the most."

Participants included the regional heads of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

To read more about health in Latin America, visit the Pan American Health Organization.