Steve Lewis, Global Health Advocacy Manager at RESULTS, looks forward to a crucial week of debates at the United Nations General Assembly.
From Monday, diplomats and delegations from around the world will arrive in New York for the 68th General Assembly of the UN. As well as big political issues such as Syria there are important debates on development issues such as the current state of the Millenium Development Goals ( MDGs) and what will replace the goals when they expire in 2015. I will be attending from RESULTS UK, and I’ll be joining with other RESULTSes around the world, to help ensure that decisions are made that really benefit the worlds poor.
In a busy week of debates there are three I will be paying special attention to. On Monday there is a special UN session on Disability and Development. Under the slogan ‘Break barriers, Open Doors’ thousands of disabled people and their allies will argue that the current MDG framework is inadequate because it does not refer to disabled people. 15% of the world’s population live with a disability and yet there is not a single mention of disability in the current MDG ramework.
On Wednesday (25 September) the UN debates progress on achieving the MDGs. At a global level poverty has been reduced significantly. The number of people living on less than $1.25Â a day has fallen from 47% in 1990 to around 20% today. But this is largely due to progress in a few large countries. In many countries, especially in Africa and Conflict Affected States the number of people living in poverty is actually rising.
The target of halving the percentage of people suffering from hunger has not been achieved yet, but is within reach. The proportion of undernourished people fell from 23% in 1990 to about 14% today. However that still means that one in eight people remains chronically malnourished and one in four children suffers from stunted growth because of malnutrition. I will be arguing in New York that in the next set of Goals, to cover the period 2015 to 2030, there should be one goal dedicated to the specific issue of ending undernutrition. This is in line with the position of the High Level Panel set co-chaired by David Cameron which gave its recommendations in May for the next set of development goals.
The third issue I’ll be following next week will be financing for development. Wise words are no use if funding for development programmes is lacking. One announcement that is awaited is a decision on how much the UK will contribute towards the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria . Ours can be the generation that puts an end to these 3 diseases – but the Global Fund requires $15billion to achieve this in the period 2014-2016.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and International Development Minister Justine Greening will be in New York along with other ministers. RESULTS believes this would be a perfect opportunity to announce to the world a substantial contribution. A UK pledge of £1Bn would show the world that the UK is determined to build on good progress and end these diseases.
British support can make a huge difference. If the UK delivers a contribution of at least £1 billion over the next three years, as we hope it will, the Global Fund will be able to provide drugs for 650,000 HIV-positive people, 51 million bed nets to prevent malaria, and care and treatment for almost 300,000 TB patients. A major pledge next week from the UK will also unlock more from other countries. The US has promised that for every two dollars other donors give, it will add a further dollar. That’s even more value for money for British taxpayers and even more results in the fight against these diseases.
Please follow this blog throughout next week to get updates from the UN and find out what has been achieved.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of RESULTS UK.