A Global Family: The Paradigm Shift That Will Enable Us To Achieve The MDGs Rapidly and Effectively

Global Watch, Summer 2006 by Marques, Joan F

The report adds, "Furthermore, more than 40 percent of deaths caused by malaria and 94 percent of deaths from diarrhea "could be prevented through better environmental management," (Capdivila, 2006, p. 1).

The Food and Agricultural Organization

In April 2006, 28 of the 33 Latin America and the Caribbean countries and islands took part in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) regional conference and agreed to eradicate hunger on their continent by 2025. Estrada (2006) reports that the intention of this conference was, to work toward "meeting - and surpassing - the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of the population living in hunger by 2015" (p. 1). Estrada (2006) cites Jose Graziano Da Silva, head of the regional office, who maintained, 'The main challenge faced by these countries is to create specific social policies to fight hunger, programs based in specific locations, that create job and income generation opportunities for the poor" (p. 1).

Da Silva further explained, 'To do this, the hungry population must be identified, located and counted. Many countries still have no figures or statistics" (Estrada, 2006, p. 1). In order to achieve the goal of ending malnutrition in Latin America by 2021, the participants to this conference adopted a proposal presented by the governments of Brazil and Guatemala at the Latin American Conference on Chronic Hunger, held in September in Guatemala. Estrada further remarks that the malnutrition in this region is particularly paradoxical, because Latin America and the Caribbean are considered some of the world's highest food producing regions.

Yet, concludes Estrada, "In Latin America and the Caribbean, malnutrition is mainly caused by a lack of access to food: a significant proportion of the population cannot afford to buy enough food, or does not have the resources needed to produce it on a subsistence basis" (p. 1).

The UNICEF

In the past months, "UNICEF [...] has emerged under new leadership as a crucial protagonist for child survival" (Norton, 2006, p. 4). This commitment was, according to Norton, not always assured. However, it is Norton's (2006) finding that "UNICEFs new executive director, Ann Veneman, has pledged the agency to what amounts to a second child survival revolution. Her vision is to use 'sound science' to expand dramatically an integrated approach to child health " (p. 4).

Horton further asserts, "One cause of this more favorable environment for child health is the understanding that investments in children bring important economic rewards" (p. 1). And to comfort those who frown upon these motives, Horton remarks, "Advocacy does not have to rest on appeals to moral leadership and compassion alone, important though these are. Surviving and healthy children are a prerequisite for productive adults. When combined with good education, programs for child survival are engines for poverty reduction" (p. 4).

Other Sources

Of course there are numerous sources out there, investing in the realization of the MDGs, particularly goal 4, reduce child mortality, before the deadline approaches. Horton (2006) mentions, 'The Gates Foundation recently announced grants of over US$84 million for newborn health" (p. 5). Horton (2006) continues, 'The Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has decided to invest in healthsystems strengthening as a means to achieve and sustain its programs of immunization coverage" (p. 5). And to illustrate governmental input, Horton asserts, 'The Norwegian government has led higher-income nations by announcing its "ambition to take a leading role in making MDG-4 a reality". Norway's Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, has backed up this promise with a commitment to invest US$1 billion in GAVI through to 2015 "(p. 5).