Full Coverage: MDGs

29.09.2006

29.09.2006 more than six billion people in the world today, over one billion have no access to improved drinking water -- a basic necessity for human life -- and about 2.6 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation.

28.09.2006 Children who were out of school in 15 districts of Nepal now have the opportunity to learn how to read and write, thanks to the UNICEF-supported Out-of-School Programme (OSP).

28.09.2006 While the fall in the total fertility rate for the five Indian
states for which NFHS-3 results have been released is to be
welcomed, one cannot draw any general conclusion until the data for the BIMARU states comes in. The data on anaemia prevalence among women and children, however, is disturbing says Ashish Bose.

28.09.2006 A toll-free telephone helpline for children in distress is now available in 72 cities.
Supported by the Women and Child Development Ministry, "Childline" number 1098 is available round-the-clock and it could be accessed either by a child or an adult.

27.09.2006 The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, delivering Bangladesh’s statement at the UN General Assembly, urged the international community to fulfil their pledges and enhance development assistance to help the LDCs attain the Millennium Development Goals.

27.09.2006 With over 100,000 people contracting sexually transmitted diseases every year, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) have decided to educate working adults on HIV/AIDS without upsetting cultural sensibilities, through a US funded factory improvement programme.

27.09.2006 Indian civil society organised a consultation to address the situations arising from the recent notification declaring ban on employment of children in domestic work, eateries and dabhas. The report provides a guideline map for the stakeholder to take effective measures for restoration and rehabilitation of working children.

26.09.2006 The government reviews the progress of India’s Bharat Nirman programme, which aims to upgrade India’s rural infrastructure. While the year’s targets for rural telephony, water supply, housing and new roads have been met, there was a shortfall in electricity and irrigation coverage

25.09.2006 Le spese militari sono in costante aumento e per la fine del 2006 supereranno i mille miliardi di dollari raggiungendo i livelli della Guerra Fredda: lo afferma l'Ong britannica Oxfam in un rapporto presentato all’Assemblea Generale dell'Onu. "L'aumento di spese militari ha comportato una crescita del 60% Dei fatturati delle principali 100 industrie produttici di armi" - segnala il rapporto. Se l'incremento è dovuto principalmente alla spesa militare degli Stati Uniti, che da sola supera la metà della spesa mondiale, e del Medio Oriente, anche l’Africa è interessata dal problema. Rilanciando le proposte della Campagna "Control arms", Oxfam ha invitato i Governi sostenere la proposta di un Trattato sul commercio delle armi già dal prossimo ottobre. E bloccare la vendita di armi nelle zone di conflitto dei paesi poveri.

25.09.2006 The core question addressed in this paper is what explains the large inter-state disparity in child malnutrition as
manifested in stunting in India⎯ranging from 22 to 56 per cent. A perhaps surprising finding is that inter-state differences in child stunting are not directly correlated to differences in income poverty. The variables with the highest explanatory power for stunting are child health-care provision and the fertility rate.

22.09.2006 As part of its universal initiative aimed at bringing excellence in education, the Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN), a part of Agha Khan Foundation will set up the Agha Khan Academy in Hyderabad with an outlay of $ 50 million.

21.09.2006 Several developing countries are not reaching sustainable development targets fast enough despite numerous international agreements, says a report, launched here amidst criticism that World Bank energy and mining projects were not doing enough to protect the environment and improve the plight of the poor.

21.09.2006 Schools in every district of the state have been found guilty of pumping up enrolment figures in order to comply with teachers’ wishes and retain government funding

19.09.2006 An African diplomat from one of the world's 50 poorest nations, described as least developed countries (LDCs), once complained that it took about five to 10 years to get a landline telephone connection in his home country -- and an additional five years to get a dial tone on the new phone.

19.09.2006 The unceremonious deportation from Singapore of several prominent Indian critics of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has drawn fresh attention in this country to the autocratic functioning of these financial institutions, now holding their annual meeting in the city-state.

19.09.2006 For children with learning disabilities in Mumbai, school life has just become a little easier with Maharashtra issuing a government resolution spelling out concessions for students with dyslexia (reading disability), dysgraphia (writing disability), dyscalculia (disability in carrying out mathematical calculations) and dysnomia (dictation disability).

19.09.2006 Strong economic growth in South Asia is creating "political space" for much-needed policy and institutional reforms to accelerate and sustain growth, and tackle long-standing social and economic problems, according to a World Bank report.

19.09.2006 The majority of people in South Asia still face the indignity of open defecation and governments need to ensure that their sanitation programmes address this crisis and help reduce poverty, disease and unnecessary deaths in the region, a report by WaterAid says.

18.09.2006 Despite concerted efforts by the Government to tackle malnutrition and anaemia, the infant mortality rate (IMR) in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu (India) has registered an increase when compared with other districts in the state.