Kaburu Anthony: Agriculture; Africa’s untapped resources

Kaburu Anthony: Agriculture; Africa’s untapped resources: The world faces a huge challenge of achieving sustainable food and nutrition security for a growing population with more diverse consumpti...

Agriculture; Africa’s untapped resources

The world faces a huge challenge of achieving sustainable food and nutrition security for a growing population with more diverse consumption patterns in the face of increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change. This challenge is most severe in developing countries where rates of poverty remain high. Despite recent progress, FAO estimates that more than 800 million people worldwide are hungry –consuming less than the minimum number of calories needed to sustain an active and healthy life and an estimated 160 million children are stunted, seriously impairing their future quality of life and contribution to society.

By 2050, Africa will be home to one-fifth of the world’s population. This rapid growth, present significant challenges for food security, peace and stability – as well as economic opportunities in the region, African countries haven’t seen an increase in farm productivity that Asia has experienced in the past 30 years. The problem is that domestic expenditure on agriculture has for the most part been ignored, leaving crop yield at the same levels as the 1980’s. Africa’s population is on the rise, thus reducing Africa’s dependence on imports. This is because dependence on imports will be imperative, if Africa is to compete on a global scale.

Driven by population growth and growing land scarcity, most African farm households are witnessing the gradual sub-division of their land. Over time farms are getting smaller and smaller. Today, over 80% of farms in relatively densely populated countries – like Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi and Rwanda are smaller than one hectare. Because they're so small, few can generate enough income to keep farmers above the poverty line and most of them increasingly rely on off-farm incomes.

Agriculture has for a long time been seen as an underperforming sector in Africa but over the past 10 years been recognized as the sector most capable of providing both sustained economic growth and social inclusion on the African continent. The transformation of Africa’s agriculture sector is now underway and there is great potential to produce more food on less land, feeding more people.

For this to happen, the continent needs to improve its infrastructure, allowing for a better functioning supply-chains and better access to markets. Agronomic knowledge needs to be shared more widely and new technologies must be applied. Access to financing and foreign investments is also key to boost Africa’s agricultural sector, which requires the presence of a predictable legal and regulatory framework.

Empowering rural farmers via effective and labor intensive farming is a more permanent solution other than shipping in food from other better, developed agricultural centers. Nearly 2/3 of Africans depend on agriculture for their income, thus focusing on agriculture would set in place reinforcing feedback loops.

Much has already been talked about the situation of the smallholder farmer: that they produce 70 per cent of the world’s food, but are most vulnerable to shocks due to climate change and market fluctuations. Considering all the research that has been done in this sector, it is clear that diversification of farm produce and training of farmers should be the key priorities.

Diversification protects small farmers from economic risks like a market collapse. It also prevents land degradation that happens from mono-cropping. Such diversification has so far been difficult to achieve because it is usually governments, seed companies and fertilizer companies who impose their agenda on the farmer about what to grow, and often pushes the farmer into mono-cropping. In the current scenario of climate change, mono-cropping is all the more risky.

The result of all of these situations is that the farmers’ output is far below their potential. With better access to finance, better seeds and fertile soil, reliable markets and secure access to land, their output can be much higher. Part of this lies in the hands of Africa’s policy makers, and will show positive effect if they extend supportive policies.

Improved market access, as well as the means and inputs to improve yields can have a profound impact on global food security and help achieve the UN Global Goal of reaching zero hunger by 2030, I believe in the African food and agriculture sector and that the right investments will create opportunities for inclusive, sustainable growth.

We now need a collaborative approach to support African farmers on their journey to prosperity and to work together to share and apply our knowledge and make investments possible so that we can realize the potential of Agriculture and agribusiness which could be a $1 billion sector in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

In conclusion, after years of neglect and disinvestment, there has been renewed emphasis and new approaches to agriculture development in Africa. Within the donor community, a revitalised and expanded role for advisory and information services is seen as central to pro-poor agricultural growth. Apart from their conventional role of providing and transferring knowledge in order to increase productivity, new functions include linking smallholder farmers to high value and export markets , promoting environmental outcomes and coping with public health challenges such as HIV/AIDS. #AgricultureDevelopment #Sustainability #FightingPoverty #Empowerment #PromotingRuralFarmers 

Kaburu Anthony: Decent Work and Economic Growth solutions -SDG8

Kaburu Anthony: Decent Work and Economic Growth solutions -SDG8: It is estimated that over 600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030, just to keep pace with the growth of the global working age popu...

Kaburu Anthony: Decent Work and Economic Growth solutions -SDG8

Kaburu Anthony: Decent Work and Economic Growth solutions -SDG8: It is estimated that over 600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030, just to keep pace with the growth of the global working age popu...

Decent Work and Economic Growth solutions -SDG8

It is estimated that over 600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030, just to keep pace with the growth of the global working age population. That’s around 40 million per year. Today’s youth will be key to any sustainable development strategies, thus the need to ensure that there are enough opportunities for them to participate in the global economy.

Roughly half the world’s population still lives on the equivalent of about US$2 a day. And in too many places, having a job doesn’t guarantee the ability to escape from poverty. This slow and uneven progress requires us to rethink and retool our economic and social policies aimed at eradicating poverty.

A continued lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments and under-consumption lead to an erosion of the basic social contract underlying democratic societies: that all must share in progress. . The creation of quality jobs will remain a major challenge for almost all economies well beyond 2015.

Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Job opportunities and decent working conditions are also required for the whole working age population.

A continued lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments and under-consumption lead to an erosion of the basic social contract underlying democratic societies: that all must share in progress.

This is why SDG Goal 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth is of critical importance for Africa countries. There is a need to ensure inclusive equitable economic growth hand in hand with the creation of decent and sustainable jobs

The target is to create decent jobs for all people worldwide by 2030, especially for young people and people with disabilities, and to lower the number of young people who are unemployed and uneducated by 2020.

SOLUTIONS

The number of unemployed people is rapidly increasing every year, and the majority of these individuals are young people. In order to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all people worldwide, more than 470 million jobs have to be created between 2016 and 2030.

SDG 8 aims to bring about a 7% yearly gross domestic product growth in developing countries, which in turn will result in increased levels of economic productivity and growth among all sectors.

. This can only happen if diversification and upgrading of technology takes place, as access to financial services is a necessity to promote employment, entrepreneurship, and the creation of smaller businesses.

. With an increasing youthful population, Africa stands at a special place in the agenda, considering that much of the rest of the world population is ageing.

. It is this phenomenon that has given rise to the agitation for Decent Work, which means opportunities for everyone to get work that is productive and which delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families.

. One way of ensuring the attainment of Decent Work for all is through improved labour market governance. Pertinent agenda include the laws, policies and institutions which determine and influence the demand and supply of labour.

. Labour market governance goes hand in hand with fair working conditions as one of the essential requirements of decent work. This includes decent wages, hours of work, rest and leave periods, adequate social security, freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, and an absence of discrimination, or child labour.

Addressing challenges of poverty, inequality, labour market governance, labour productivity to achieve rapid, inclusive sustained growth with decent jobs will not only transform lives of ordinary citizens, but make Africa an economic powerhouse. #SDG8 #DecentWork #YouthEmployment #EconomicGrowth #SDGS #SharedOpportunities  

Kaburu Anthony: Affordable and Clean Energy solutions in Africa

Kaburu Anthony: Affordable and Clean Energy solutions in Africa: Electricity lifts people out of poverty and improves their health and standards of living. Yet 1.3 billion of the world’s people don’t have...

Affordable and Clean Energy solutions in Africa

Electricity lifts people out of poverty and improves their health and standards of living. Yet 1.3 billion of the world’s people don’t have access to it. And more than half of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Getting affordable electricity to the sub-Saharan population is a multifaceted challenge. Demand is expected to increase by 4% year on year, but the supply shortage already results in frequent blackouts. People are forced to use expensive and inefficient generators which run on fossil fuels to provide reliable power.

If sub-Saharan Africa is to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including goal 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all and goal 13 to combat climate change and its impact, electricity should not only be affordable and reliable, but also from clean energy sources.

The region needs a significant increase in investments in renewable energy projects. Many economic and political challenges stand in the way. But there are ways to make renewable energy projects more attractive and competitive, and to turn these into more sustainable ways of living.

Most of the developed world has started to move away from dirty energy sources (fossil fuels) to clean energy. Since sub-Saharan Africa does not already have a lot of dirty energy supply in place, it makes perfect sense for the region to invest in renewable energy sources. Renewables are able to meet most of the region’s electricity demand. And they have never been more cost effective.

One problem is the weak electricity grids south of the Sahara. Take the electricity grid of Nigeria, for example. It’s the continent’s largest economy together with South Africa, but it runs mostly on private generators and will struggle to integrate large amounts of intermittent solar and wind power. Big investments in energy storage systems or backup capacity are needed for when the sun does not shine or when the wind is not blowing. Concentrating solar power technology is one of these systems.

Concentrating solar power is based on solar thermal technology to store power, which has the advantage to provide electricity to communities when the sun goes down. The technology uses different mirror configurations to collect and focus the sun lights energy onto a receiver. The solar energy is turned into heat, which is stored in molten salts, which is used to generate steam and in turn this steam drives a turbine to generate electricity.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the sunshine that is needed for these projects and the cost of the electricity generated has fallen in recent years. But there are still economic and political challenges to implementation.

Challenges and barriers

Renewable energy projects are expensive to set up and cheap to run compared to conventional power sources based on fossil fuels. The investment and financing costs are the dominant drivers of the electricity cost. And the risks are seen as higher in sub-Saharan Africa, which makes financing more expensive than in the developed world. Finance providers worry about political, regulatory, financial and administrative barriers. It can take a long time to get permission for projects

Sub-Saharan Africa has several power regions where participating countries trade electricity to improve the reliability of the whole electricity system. The trade is still limited, though, partly because of the lack of interconnections. Long-distance trade across power regions is particularly difficult.

An example is the controversial Inga 3 hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project was initially proposed in the 1950s and was supposed to have delivered 4.8 GW of power. Most of the power was destined for export to South Africa and the balance for mining operations in the DRC. But the project was halted in 2013 because of investors’ concerns.

They pointed to the project’s flawed economics and the country’s political instability. The project has since been resurrected and there are plans to double the capacity and supply excess power to Nigeria. Again, the challenge is transmission infrastructure and administrative capacity.

 Solutions

There are several initiatives that African nations can take to increase their clean energy portfolio while also reducing energy poverty. These include:

. Improving access to electricity for the urban poor, possibly using pay-as-you-go meters. The meters encourage efficient use of electricity, and make revenue collection much easier.

. Providing government guarantees for banks that offer investment loans in generation of clean renewable energy.

. Removing import duties and production taxes for renewable energy systems.

. Resolving structural issues in Africa’s energy markets, where monopolies keep out new players and stifle innovation. Governments should adopt policies that decentralize the market and ensure easy access for new renewable energy producers.

. Increasing the availability of renewable energy finance, such as microcredit programs to enable the poor to purchase solar panels and solar lanterns, and to help renewable energy providers expand their businesses to Africa. The multilateral development banks should establish distributed clean energy funds for Africa. 

. Governments should adopt feed-in tariffs to level the playing field for clean energy sources.

. Global climate finance funds should be made available for clean energy projects that reduce energy poverty in Africa.

. In many African nations, energy subsidies are mostly assisting industrial users and better-off households, who are the ones using the great bulk of electricity. Such subsidies need to be analyzed and possibly reworked to ensure they are effective in reducing poverty and increasing energy access for the poorest.

If solar power projects are to succeed in African countries, it’s key to make finance less risky, to strengthen institutional capacity so that regions can co-operate, and to improve domestic logistical infrastructure. #CleanEnergy #Affordable #SDGS #SDG7 #Sustainability 

Kaburu Anthony: Africa’s impacts and approach to climate change ad...

Kaburu Anthony: Africa’s impacts and approach to climate change ad...: Africa, the world's second-largest continent, is inhabited by almost a billion people. Because of the interaction of climate change wit...

Africa’s impacts and approach to climate change adaptation

Africa, the world's second-largest continent, is inhabited by almost a billion people. Because of the interaction of climate change with other stresses in Africa—such as widespread poverty, population growth, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and overgrazing and other ecosystem damage—it is considered to be the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Projected impacts of climate change on Africa include biodiversity loss (extinction of plant and animal species), diminished agriculture with increased hunger, increased disease, forced migration of populations (especially out of the Sahel), and more. About 70% of Africa's population lives by farming, often subsistence farming, with the poorest members of society tending to be most dependent on agriculture.

Climate change represents a major threat for the coming decades, particularly in Africa which has more climate sensitive economies than any other continent. Some regions in Africa have become drier during the last century (e.g. the Sahel) and it is projected that the continent will experience a stronger temperature increase trend than the global average. Africa has often been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low resilience, arising from endemic poverty, weak institutions, as well as recurrent droughts and associated complex emergencies and conflicts. Climate-related risks have significant impacts on African populations and economies and drive large allocations to emergency resources. Under nutrition in turn undermines the resilience of vulnerable populations decreasing their ability to cope and adapt to the consequences of climate change and their ability grow economically.

Climate variability and change considerably influence shocks, trends and seasonality that observed and predicted in Sub-Saharan African countries, and that represent sources of stresses in the lives and livelihoods of exposed communities. Increased temperatures deplete land of its moisture more rapidly and can lead to regional water scarcity, salinization of agricultural lands, and to the destruction of crops. As temperatures increase, precipitation is becoming more variable over most of Africa. For some regions, rainfall variability and unpredictability has been substantial in the past forty to fifty years,there has been an overall annual decline in rainfall observed since the end of the 1960s over Africa with some regions experiencing greater declines than others. For instance, the Sahel and Southern Africa have become drier during the twentieth century

There can be no single best approach or sets of approaches to climate change adaptation for a continent as large and diverse as Africa. However, there are a number of considerations that can help frame particular strategies and tactics. i outline here some of them.

Greater understanding of African climate and climate change – Science to understand climate in Africa is woefully lacking compared to much of the rest of the world. Simply put, substantially more investment is needed to improve our understanding African climate and its relationship to global climate processes.

More research by Africans for Africa – The impact of science investment will be greater if it is driven to a much greater extent by African researchers responsible to their own constituencies and governments than is currently the case. For example, African farmers are rightly more interested in knowledge on current rainfall variability that can inform planting decisions than multi-decadal trends in average temperature that may be more of interest to the international community.

More investment in agricultural research and new approaches to water investment – With or without additional Africa-centric climate research, the worldwide biotechnology revolution now unfolding holds tremendous promise for agricultural adaptation in Africa’s heterogeneous landscapes. Capitalizing on the opportunity will require a new prioritization of agricultural research in general and new approaches to national, international, and private research partnerships. For much of the continent, adaptation will be further facilitated by investments emphasizing improved on-farm soil and water management rather than expansion of large-scale irrigation.

Broadened approaches to food security – Better adapted seeds and agricultural practices are important to food security in Africa under climate change but so too is investment in supporting storage and transportation infrastructure as well as market access within and between African states. In many cases though, food security will only be assured if both physical and economic access to international agricultural markets is assured. This requires international regimes that support predictable and reliable trade flows as well as economic environments that support national income growth.

Urbanization and migration as adaptation strategies – Urbanization can be a source for income growth and a positive adaptive response to climate change. But only if it is driven at least as much by the pull of opportunity as the push from worsening rural conditions. National economic policy and its relation to urban growth is thus critical to rural adaption options. Climate change is unlikely to drive migration out of the continent at rates significant to African populations. However, the political implications of these “small” numbers will still be high, giving Europe and the rest of the international community incentive to ensure an international system fair to African trade and investment.

Health systems preparedness – Strong health systems arguably provide the single best pathway for livelihood improvement with or without climate change. The global threat of climate change-related emerging infectious disease draws international attention, but it cannot be addressed without strengthening underlying national health systems.

Conflict and cooperation – Climate change will increase stress on resources as well as existing formal and informal institutions to manage them at local, national, and international levels. But climate change will also bring new impetus for cooperation. As important as it is to focus on conflict mitigation, we should not miss the opportunity to use the threats from climate change as a chance to foster new cooperation.
Finally, the Climate Change Phenomenon is indeed a big challenge before Africa and concerted efforts must be geared towards reducing our vulnerability as a people and as a continent.
The situation is even further compounded by the fact that in most African countries, climate change remains a marginal issue to the pressing issue of food availability and security, political crises, poverty, natural resource management, energy access and social infrastructure.
Leaders across the continent must recognize a common set of interests in promoting global policies that will mitigate the human behaviours contributing to climate change and allow Africa to adapt to the effects which are already being felt #ClimateChange #Adaptation #ClimateAction #SDG13 #Sustainability #UrgentActions 

Kaburu Anthony: Africa is still sinking deeper into hunger

Kaburu Anthony: Africa is still sinking deeper into hunger: Despite extensive global economic growth in recent decades, including in some of the poorest countries in Africa, millions of people remain...

Africa is still sinking deeper into hunger

Despite extensive global economic growth in recent decades, including in some of the poorest countries in Africa, millions of people remain locked in a vicious cycle of hunger and poverty, In total, 795 million people were hungry worldwide. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa was the area with the second largest number of hungry people, as Asia had 512 million, mainly due to the much larger population of Asia when compared to sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank also reported in 2012 that sub-Saharan Africa Poverty and Equity Data was 501 million people, or 47 per cent Poverty has also been reported as the principal cause of hunger in Africa and the principal causes of poverty have been found to be harmful economic systems, conflict and population growth.

Given the current drought in Africa – and the accelerating consequences of climate change on the environment – reaching this goal may be difficult. The consequence will be ongoing food insecurity, including poor nutrition and the poor health status that results from a lack of food resources. Poverty means parents can't feed their families with enough nutritious food, living children malnourished.

The United Nations released the Sustainable Development Goals for implementation from 2016. Its targets are to be achieved by 2030. The second goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture completely. This is more focused than the Millennium Development Goals which looked to reduce the number to 50%. Strategies to meet this goal emphasize investment and interventions in agriculture to ensure sustainable food resources.

Governments in rapidly growing economies have more resources to dedicate to improving food security and nutrition. But this does not necessarily translate into food for all. For example, just over a quarter of Africa’s population is food insecure – despite sufficient food being produced at the national level.

Africa’s success in achieving long-term food and nutrition security will depend on several key national and regional drivers. These include committed political leadership and good governance, quality policies and strategies in the food and agricultural sector, a sound macro-economic environment, inclusive economic growth and increased economic integration.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the prevalence of undernourishment in sub-Saharan Africa declined from 33% to 23% between 1990/92 and 2014. But in fact the total number of undernourished people increased during this period – from 175.7 million to 220 million. This was partly due to an expanding population.

Solutions to ending hunger;

. Economic growth and wealth is necessary to make progress in reducing poverty and hunger, especially in the face of an expanding population. But governments need to do more than pursue economic growth. The key factor in ensuring food security is inclusive growth – growth that promotes access for everyone to food, assets and resources.

. Improving government policy, increasing political will and application of community adapted strategies in tackling this issue is fundamental. It should be recognized, not only as a public health issue, but as a fundamental human right especially for children to eat. Starting life disadvantaged with adverse consequences from malnutrition (ill health, mental retardation, high malnutrition related morbidity and mortality resulting especially from under-five deaths) is a neglected but serious developmental hindrance to Sub - Saharan Africa.

. The fight against corruption must cease to be lip service but actually get effective.

. The use of modern agricultural techniques to increase food production is very essential. Provision or subsidization of the ministries of Agriculture to provide fertilizers, use genetically modified foods to resist adverse weather conditions and improve yield could be possible solutions to be investigated.

. Improvement of the transport system to give access to locals to sell their local produce to raise incomes for their families is important.

. Base Line surveys to determine and understand sociocultural peculiarities of each community during implementation of particular programs are vital. Avoidance of vertical programs could be of great help.

. The ministry of environments of countries must engage in programs to protect the environment which continues to be degrading. Feasible and sustainable irrigation programs should be scaled up especially in drought affected regions.

. The solution to this problem of malnutrition in developing countries entails a multisectorial approach with well defined and achievable goals. The ministries of health, education, agricultural, environment, universities and research organizations and other non-governmental organizations or international donors must work together if any tangible outcomes are expected.

. Further research involving the potential acceptability of new agricultural technologies, modern farming methods and genetically modified foods in a Sub Saharan African context should be undertaken. Understanding the socio cultural peculiarities of the milieu is fundamental. It might be difficult and unproductive implementing some health promotion programs, especially when they are very vertical and culturally inadapted. Implication of the community representatives in the programs from the early planning stages could be key determinants of program ownership, acceptability and sustainability.

. Governments need to adopt an integrated approach to effectively reduce hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. They also need to implement a mix of complementary and comprehensive food security and nutrition policies and programmes.

In conclusion, greater urgency in building resilience of households, communities and countries to climate variability and extremes is needed. We need to face myriad of challenges to building institutional capacity in designing, coordinating and scaling up actions for risk monitoring and early warning systems, emergency preparedness and response, vulnerability reduction measures, shock-responsive social protection, and planning and implementing resilience-building measures. Strategies towards climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction must be aligned as well as coordinated with interventions in nutrition and food systems across sectors #EndingHunger #ZeroHunger #SDGS #ClimateChangeActions #SDGS #Sustainability #ResourceManagement #Humanity #FoodSecurity #NutritionforAll 

Kaburu Anthony: Unending worldwide conflicts keeping more children...

Kaburu Anthony: Unending worldwide conflicts keeping more children...: Almost 50 million children living in conflict-affected countries around the world are being denied the chance of going to school , Childre...

Unending worldwide conflicts keeping more children out of school

Almost 50 million children living in conflict-affected countries around the world are being denied the chance of going to school, Children living in countries at war have come under direct attack, have been used as human shields, killed, maimed or recruited to fight. Rape, forced marriage and abduction have become standard tactics in conflicts from Syria to Yemen, and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Nigeria, South Sudan, Myanmar, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Eastern Ukraine, Iraq, Central African Republic, Palestine, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

When a conflict or natural disaster erupts, education is generally the first service interrupted and the last resumed. Governments are often overwhelmed by the needs and relief aid traditionally focuses on populations’ basic requirements – food, water, shelter and protection – with only 2 percent of humanitarian funding allocated to education. 

Children don't just have the right to survive, they have the right to thrive and grow up in a healthy environment, we’re really losing any kind of progress and their right to education, which is the biggest and best hope for making their lives better and addressing the challenges they face.

This is what makes it so crucial – for these children, for their communities and for our entire world – to invest significantly more efforts and resources in education in emergencies and protracted crises.

One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

Meanwhile, children that are taken out of school are more exposed to violence, trafficking, child labour, child marriage and recruitment by armed groups. They are deprived from their basic right to education and the chance to fulfil their true potential. And they will find it difficult to come back to a traditional curriculum when schools reopen. Their situation triggers despair and sometimes anger. It pushes some families to risk their lives crossing borders and seas and fuels tensions in host communities.

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of war, and frequently represent at least half of the population in a conflict area. They suffer fear and insecurity, and disruption to every aspect of their lives. Children who have been displaced are at an increased risk of sexual and physical violence, disease and malnutrition, and separation from family members. As displaced persons or refugees they may experience severe poverty, abuse, exploitation, and psychosocial distress. 

Children without parental care in conflict areas are highly vulnerable to abduction or other forms of recruitment by armed forces and groups.  Such children may be used to fight, provide labour or be sexually exploited. Involvement in conflict may result in malnutrition, abuse, addiction to drugs, injury, psychosocial distress or death. While children associated with armed forces and groups make up a small minority of the total number of children affected by war, they are extremely vulnerable and in need of particular protection and care. 

Opportunities to help children who have been associated with fighting forces may begin with their escape, capture or formal demobilization. Some may be able immediately to reunite with family members, but others may need interim care during tracing. While children may be readily accepted by their family and community, others risk rejection. Family mediation and community sensitization is needed to support family reunification and community integration. Ongoing monitoring, family support services, and placement planning is necessary where children are not reunited with one or both parents or where family and community acceptance is uncertain.   

Community action to protect and support war affected children should be inclusive and not limited to children formally associated with armed forces or any one group of children. National efforts should focus on the reestablishment of essential services, particularly in the areas of security, health and education. 

The impact of education on resilience, peace and development has been clearly established. Only education has the power to break the cycles of poverty, violence and injustice, and provide crisis-affected children with the strength, tools and hope they need to build a brighter future for themselves and their community. They will become tomorrow’s leaders, doctors, teachers, architects, artists and engineers. They will enjoy better health for themselves and their families and make stronger contributions to their society.

The truth of the matter is that education is an imperative for crisis-hit families as they are struggling to keep their children safe and rebuild their lives, and is paramount to peace and development. World leaders should protect education by criminalizing attacks, prohibiting the use of schools by armed groups, and working with schools and communities to preserve schools as centres for learning – especially in a conflict, classrooms should be a place of safety and security, not battlegrounds where children suffer the most appalling crimes. Children who are targeted in this way will be paying an innocent price for the rest of their lives #EndConflicts #ChildrenHaveEducationRights #PeaceandReconciliation #PrayforOurChildrenInConflicts #Humanity

Children living in countries at war have come under direct attack, been killed, maimed or recruited to fight, and used as human shields. And world leaders are still failing to hold perpetrators to account for their actions.

Children don't just have the right to survive, they have the right to thrive and grow up in a healthy environment, we’re really losing any kind of progress and their right to education, which is the biggest and best hope for making their lives better and addressing the challenges they face.

For the thousands of children killed or maimed in conflicts in the past, recent and even this day of year, the world’s failure is clear. Yet we are also failing children when their homes, their schools and hospitals, and the other services that provide them with the basics of life are denied or attacked. #EndConflicts #ChildrenHaveEducationRights #PeaceandReconciliation #PrayforOurChildrenInConflicts #Humanity 

Kaburu Anthony: International Day to End Obstetric Fistula observa...

Kaburu Anthony: International Day to End Obstetric Fistula observa...: Today the world marks #InternationalDaytoEndObstetric Fistula, Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic injuries that can oc...

International Day to End Obstetric Fistula observance 23rd May 2019

Today the world marks #InternationalDaytoEndObstetric Fistula, Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic injuries that can occur during childbirth. It is a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without treatment.

While there has been tremendous progress in preventing and treating fistula around the world, ending fistula in all forms requires addressing underlying systemic issues and improving access to high quality maternal health care around the world.

The condition typically leaves women incontinent, and as a result, they are often shunned by their communities. Sufferers often endure depression, social isolation and deepening poverty. Many women live with the condition for years – or even decades – because they cannot afford to obtain treatment.

An estimated 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab region, and Latin America and the Caribbean are living with this injury, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop worldwide each year. Most fistulae occur among women living in poverty in cultures where a woman’s status and self-esteem may depend almost entirely on her marriage and ability to bear children. Yet fistula is almost entirely preventable. Its persistence is a sign that health systems are failing to meet women’s essential needs.

Obstetric fistula symptoms generally manifest in the early post-partum period. However, other, equally severe symptoms such as psychological trauma, deteriorating health, increasing poverty, and social stigmatization by family and friends can and often do occur.

Obstetric fistula can be prevented and in most cases treated. Reconstructive surgery with a trained, expert fistula surgeon can repair the injury, with success rates as high as 90 per cent for less complex cases. The average cost of fistula treatment—including surgery, post-operative care and rehabilitation support—is $300 per patient.

This year’s theme is ‘hope, healing and dignity for all, Obstetric fistula is preventable; it can largely be avoided by:

. Delaying the age of first pregnancy;

. The cessation of harmful traditional practices; and

. Timely access to obstetric care.

The prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is ensuring healthy lives; in this case, improving maternal health. #UniversalHealthforAll #EndingFistula  #InternationalDaytoEndObstetricFistula #WomenRights #SDG3 #TogetherWeCan

Kaburu Anthony: Access to clean water still a big issue in sub-Sah...

Kaburu Anthony: Access to clean water still a big issue in sub-Sah...: Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from chronically overburdened water systems under increasing stress from fast-growing urban areas. Weak governme...

Access to clean water still a big issue in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from chronically overburdened water systems under increasing stress from fast-growing urban areas. Weak governments, corruption, mismanagement of resources, poor long-term investment, and a lack of environmental research and urban infrastructure only exacerbate the problem. In some cases, the disruption or contamination of water supply in urban infrastructures and rural area has incited domestic and cross-border violence.

The water issue is a major problem for people in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the water situation in sub-Saharan Africa remains characterised by the difficult access to this resource, the poor supply management of watering places and the high costs of water network connections. For instance, in Benin one household in three doesn’t have access to drinking water, and the problem is much more acute in rural areas.

Various consultations led with the populations have indeed confirmed that the water issue is a major problem for them. The concerns, as raised by the populations, focus on the difficult access to water and the poor management of the watering places, the difficulties to call for the financial participation of the population for the creation and the management of watering places and the borehole characteristics which are too often inappropriate: even if this water is neither used for drinking nor for cooking, it is nevertheless inappropriate.

Globally, Africa is urbanising at a rate of about 5 per cent, the fastest rate in the world. The urban population in Africa could rise from 138 million in 1990 to 500 million in 2020, and African cities with over 1 million inhabitants will then have to accommodate nearly 200 million people. Regarding water, a survey conducted in 1990 in 29 sub-Saharan countries showed that eight of these countries suffered from a shortage or a scarcity of water. According to estimates, in 2025, that number should increase to 20 out of 29.

For instance, Lagos, the commercial centre of Nigeria, the African country with the largest population, has nearly 14 million inhabitants, that is to say half the population of Kenya and more that most African countries. It is the most populated city in Africa – Lagos is the sixth-largest city in the world and could become the third-largest in two decades. This would require greater access to water supply and other infrastructures as well as essential services for millions of additional inhabitants. Moreover, as in many other African countries, Lagos is about to face a real water crisis.

The main challenge in water resources management is to create an enabling environment that encourages joint management of transboundary water resources. To ensure the availability and effective use of water resources, today’s multiple arrangements should be rationalized – guided by the principles of equitable rights and sustainable and efficient water use. The weaknesses of river basin organizations should be addressed in line with best practices in Africa and elsewhere.

Cooperation should not be limited to countries shared water basins. It should extend to cooperation between sub-regional groups as well. Regional economic communities overlapping river basin organizations should work together to achieve the goals of the African Water Vision for 2025 and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. Moreover, interaction between those groups and national water structures would ensure that national goals are aligned with development possibilities – including those for increased hydropower.

We cannot enter the 21st century with the usual commercial approach we are used to having concerning water management in big cities. We must make a realistic assessment of our water management capabilities in specific circumstances. We must dare. We must show unfailing commitment to equity. We need political determination. It is important that research and education play their role and lead the way that will best achieve fairness and efficiency in the long term. Finally we need national and international collaboration and understanding because sustainable water management represents long term security for all of us #WaterAccess #Sustainability #SDG6 #SDGS #HumanityandInclusivity

Kaburu Anthony: International Day for Biological Diversity

Kaburu Anthony: International Day for Biological Diversity: In the last 100 years, more than 90 percent of crop varieties have disappeared from farmers’ fields. Half of the breeds of many domestic an...

Kaburu Anthony: Environmental challenges and solutions in Africa

Kaburu Anthony: Environmental challenges and solutions in Africa: Over 180 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone could die because of climate change by the end of the century. Unpredictable rainfall p...

Kaburu Anthony: Africa’s solutions to poverty eradication in 2019

Kaburu Anthony: Africa’s solutions to poverty eradication in 2019: The number of people living in extreme poverty is becoming concentrated in some of the most unstable and populous parts of Africa, raising ...

Kaburu Anthony: How to solve Africa’s public health Crisis

Kaburu Anthony: How to solve Africa’s public health Crisis: By 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will have suffered 71 million deaths due to AIDS. By comparison, the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages killed so...

Kaburu Anthony: Gender Inequality; Africa’s close enemy

Kaburu Anthony: Gender Inequality; Africa’s close enemy: Gender inequality is not new in traditional African society. This is in fact, not very much than it is now asserted in different countries....

Gender Inequality; Africa’s close enemy

Gender inequality is not new in traditional African society. This is in fact, not very much than it is now asserted in different countries. At present, in Africa mostly violated and then comes the rest of the world where gender inequality is perceived to bloom. Injustice given to the women seems to be increasing. In Africa, the most commonly occurring of rape in each three to six seconds. Considering the U.S., women are physically abused every 9 second, whereas in India, five thousand women are murdered approximately each year through the ceremony of dowry murder. In any case, this tragic event is the top of iceberg. However, Customs such as female genital mutilation continues as to be devastating many communities of practice; the British medical authorities and doctors warned that the first few weeks, in a recent immigrant to look at it.

Gender Roles

The activities of gender responsibilities, roles, and rights in a society of normal men and women appropriately follow. In Africa there is no single model of gender roles. Different cultures on the African continent, the role of men and women, many different ideas, although in general women are subordinate in public life and family life of the man. Such as gender roles, sexual behavior and sexual attitudes of different standards of conduct extensive in Africa. For generations, however, regardless of gender roles in Africa and sexual attitudes have changed, especially in the cities and in the West’s influence have been the strongest region.

African traditional culture has been clear that men and women have different roles in society. Girls and boys grow up; they know what kind of society they are growing in. Because of their livestock to boys, girls will be responsible for the firewood and water, while children hunting, girls will improve the strength in mainly the cooking. Then coming towards the marriage, the young men finds himself into a husband’s placed one of the leader of the community. Same goes to the women. Therefore, their life will want to live in this old model is more based on social norms and less based on personal desire.

Women’s and children’s vulnerability To HIV/AIDS

Worldwide, HIV / AIDS are the reason of death for many. The proportion of HIV and AIDS, led to women’s reproductive age. This caused by the change between the various regions of the world significantly. Women account for a lower proportion of people living with HIV. However, Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa are the main regions, where this ratio is quite high.

Sub-Saharan Africa

1985 led the sub-Saharan Africa with most of the HIV-infected people, because of their female. However, infection rates increased over the years and HIV and AIDS has surpassed the number of women and infection is still more than men. In 2009, some 12 million in the sub-Saharan, most of the women infected with HIV and AIDS patients compare to about 8.2 million citizens. UNAIDS estimates, about three women of all the contaminated with HIV lives in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world where the majority of heterosexual HIV spread occurs during sexual contact areas. Since women are double, they are more likely to obtain than from a man of unprotected heterosexual intercourse in HIV-infected partner, women disproportionately infected in the region.

Women and children

Mother to child transmission (MTCT) is a problem, directly affecting women. Women when documents in pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding the baby of the virus. UNAIDS said that in the last of 2009, an estimation of two and a half million children (15 years old) infected with HIV, most of them will be infected if not treated their mothers. They could live up to maximum 27 years of age; the high numbers of children would possibly not live to their adult life.

Drugs can minimize a gain of about 40% of the HIV virus from mother to child less than 2% chance; they cannot be used in different areas of the world. In the ongoing years, pharmaceutical companies have been substantially lowered, such as AZT and nevirapine drug, which in developing countries to prevent mother to child spread of HIV to help prices. However, due to limited human resources and poor infrastructure, many women still do not get these drugs.

Women who are victims of sexual violence were at higher risk of HIV infection, and lack of condom use rape and forced nature means that more women vulnerable to HIV infection immediately. A South African study concluded that their partners who are beaten or dominated by women more vulnerable to HIV infection, a woman who was not. Another couples in India found that the spread of HIV, not only in a very abusive relationships largely occurs, but abusive husband. HIV infection is more likely than non-abusive husbands.

Social difference in Africa

Social and economic policies favored by the colonial state men generally. Since independence, the role differences in men and women, and even the laws as a result of greater. Thus, women lag behind others in education, literacy, and in getting good jobs.

In the current world women, the third world especially, has given an unfair treatment. No wonder the major international issue has been the gender inequality. In Africa, the gender inequality is worse than the previous few decades ago. Obviously, the West may bring a lot of benefits, but gender equality is not one of them.

Economists have generally focused on the per capita income as the main indicator. In mainstream economic theory, education is often represents a key aspect of human capital, with a positive factor into the production function. Men and women with lower education, lower level of human capital transformation. Therefore, in theory, have a direct impact on women’s education from the income (or growth). There are also some strong arguments to support economic growth beyond the direct impact of female education more positive impact. These measures include the mother’s health, children’s health and education, and fertility effects. In general, support the existence of such indirect effects, higher female education to make women more informed mothers, thus helping to reduce child mortality and malnutrition. Increasing the proportion of educated women may also help to reduce fertility. In general, female education is negatively related to low fertility and low birth rate is related to dependency ratio. Conversely, low dependency ratio is associated with higher income.

Power relations between men and women in Africa

In many of the African countries, men have been given the part to be the political and business leaders, community development and women at the forefront of the leadership of the family. Women’s groups, thousands of people scattered all over. These people have proven time to time, that unity is real power. Always being the sources of economic power, which in turn makes them much-needed self-esteem. In China, many people were unable to provide the leadership was mainly due to the requirements of professional and downright laziness and apathy. This has left de facto decision-makers in the home of the woman. However, women’s economic barriers greatly limit the decision to leave the economic power of the people as decision makers. Those who are decision-makers do not have time or inclination to make informed decisions.

Today, it is not uncommon for teenage girls to be married, widow inheritance by force and with other ‘property ‘ along. Wife-beating is a very part of our modern life too. The impact of this violence seems unstoppable. However, this is just despicable violence against women, many of the unjust. The United Nations estimates, in each of Africa’s farm sixty-six Eighty percent is borne by women. Many girls in these areas had to drop out of school, because priority is given to boys. Reason for its existence is that the meager resources should take care of children, because they are the ones who will always be with their parents.

Gender role effecting African women

Learn how the people of different gender are expected to act as a growth in any important part of society. In Africa as elsewhere, men and women have traditionally been in the family and the community and the work they do different roles.

Africa’s first economies were based on hunting and gathering wild food. Some societies, such as in the Kalahari Desert! Sai Kung and in the Congo (DRC) of tropical rain Linmubati, survived to modern times is almost entirely unchanged. Through them, scientists have been able to study the ancient hunting and gathering way of life. On the biological and the theory of the early development of human society and hunting meat emphasized the importance of the role of men. Today, however, researchers know that women in many of the early social major economic producers. Between 60 and 80 percent of the outcomes of the existing hunting and gathering societies, calories consumed by people, roots, grains, nuts, honey and other food collected by women.

This pattern did not change after caught agriculture, much of Africa. Today’s women about 60 to 80 percent contribute in agricultural labor. In most rural areas throughout Africa, the role of agriculture in different men, one is by a specific gender-related tools and methods that the truth. Ax is considered a tool for men, because men clear and ready to land. They also plow the fields. Hoe is reserved for women, who grow, harvest, processing and storage of crops. Women also used for the production of the family, including access to water and firewood, food is often involved in the most remote tasks, responsibilities.

Shift in the colonial period generally cash-based economy to benefit more men than women in Africa. In most cases, the colonial officials have acknowledged the authority of men, not women, they were men of business. Women are still an important producer, but often they are produced by her father, husband, brother or sale. The men enjoy women’s work from the belief that income has not completely disappeared in modern Africa.

As colonialism continues to consolidate its land in Africa, women’s contribution to family farming that is less important, because the importance of their role in food production is more lucrative cash crops controlled by men, cast a shadow. Second, by introducing the negative effects of colonialism, women’s labor wages directly affect women, because they must be legal in certain circumstances, for the European plantation economy of wage labor. While forced labor, physical and sexual abuse is often committed by African women for their crimes. Therefore, further damage to plantation work and the ability of the well-being of women, for productivity, because they previously had in the past.

It is clear that colonialism has led to women’s economic independence and their social and political decline in a certain social status. Colonialism in Africa, despite the successful pre-colonial men taught the centuries, this feeling is generally unfounded sense of superiority in non-Islamized women of African countries do not have a strange sense of superiority. Obviously, even today, in modern Africa, women still want to continue with the life of slavery and abuse, because they are women. However, I with great pleasure, once again, we have witnessed a rise in female consciousness and self-confidence for women to say no to social contempt and disrespect. Today’s women, as they have refused to accept the colonial era prison, regardless of their racial injustice.

Conclusion

As Africans strive to restore respect and dignity of African women’s position, even more than she enjoyed in the past, depending only when a country allows respecting the dignity of women and treated fairly. The real development, may occur when we consider women as mothers and primary caregivers in the human front. Therefore, they are nurturing and building, we are building throughout the country and continent.

There is a gap between men and women to fully appreciate the far-reaching; we must acknowledge this basic fact. Gender inequality is not a pain, but many women and men have different life on the range of the girls and boys. It also needs to revisit and closely scrutinize some of our lessons from past experience tend to work. There is no good reason to give up understanding that women’s empowerment to improve the impact of the voice and influence of women does help to reduce gender inequalities in many different types, can also reduce women to conquer men suffered from indirect punishment. However, the growing inequality in the birth rate, basically to ask questions, much more complex. When women in some areas like the boys and girls have their own strength, the resulting inequality on the correct call for the broader needs of the birth rate of women’s organizations comes it would be the addition to at least consider other possible effects.

Somehow in dealing with some of the new – “high tech” – face of gender difference, in the form of inequality, there is a need to go beyond just the agency of women, but to look also for more critical assessment of received values. When anti-female bias in action (such as sex-specific abortion) reflects the hold of traditional masculinity values from which mothers themselves may not be immune, what is needed is not just freedom of action but also freedom of thought – in women’s ability and willingness to question received values. Informed and critical agency is important in combating inequality of every kind. Gender inequality, including its many faces, is no exception. #SDG5 #GenderEquity #WomenEmpowerment #RightsForAll #HumanityandInclusivity

 

How to solve Africa’s public health Crisis

By 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will have suffered 71 million deaths due to AIDS. By comparison, the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages killed some 30 million people. These are staggering figures.

They are echoed by experts at the United Nations, warning that most of the sub-Saharan countries will be unable to reach the Millennium goals related to health set by the international organization for 2015, such as reducing child mortality and improving the health of mothers.

Solving Africa’s health and development problems takes more than statements of good intention, empty promises of aid — or movie stars’ adoption of African children. But there definitely are ways to solve them. In fact, many diseases affecting children and adults can be addressed with minimal resources — if they are used strategically.

Malnutrition is a particularly critical issue. Almost 60% of deaths of children under age five in developing countries are due to malnutrition and its effects on infectious diseases. Malnourished children are up to 12 times more likely to die from easily preventable diseases (such as measles, malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia) than are well-nourished children.

There is a vicious circle between poverty and malnutrition, where each condition increases the negative effects of the other.

To address malnutrition, particularly in children, it is therefore important to educate families on children’s nutritional needs, to ensure food security in poor households and to protect children from infections by immunization and provision of safe water and sanitation. It is also important to focus on poverty, which can act as a jumping board for these situations.

According to UN statistics, African women are ten to 100 times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than women in the industrialized countries. Most of these deaths are caused by delays in recognizing complications, difficulties in reaching a medical facility and lack of adequate medical care.

In addition, for every woman who dies from complications during pregnancy and childbirth, approximately 20 or more endure injuries, infections and disabilities.

Skilled health workers are vital in addressing these challenges — but their numbers are pitifully low. Equally worrisome is the distribution of healthcare workers within the countries themselves, where they tend to remain in urban areas.

Approximately 38 out of 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa do not meet the WHO recommended minimum of 20 physicians per 100,000 population — and 13 sub-Saharan countries have five or fewer physicians for that same population.

To compound the problem, the exodus of trained personnel to higher paying jobs in industrialized countries is widespread. According to the World Health Organization, 23,000 healthcare workers leave Africa annually. It is estimated that there are more Malawian physicians in Manchester, England, than in Malawi, a country of 12 million people with only 100 doctors and 2,000 nurses.

Both African and industrialized countries have to agree on a set of policies to help health care workers remain in their countries of origin or return to them to provide their services after they have profited from learning in more developed settings.

Malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis continue to be major threats facing both children and adults. On the age-old issue of malaria, much of the debate is about the highly contentious use of DDT in combating this infectious disease. It need not be the focal point, though.

Recent experiences in Africa and Latin America show that malaria can be controlled without the use of DDT, an important new approach to dealing with this disease. It can be done through rapid case detection, drug treatment and community-level actions.

The focus is on the use of insecticide-impregnated bed nets, sanitation measures to eliminate vector breeding sites — and using chemical substitutes for spraying houses.

Throughout Africa, the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS remains one of the main barriers in dealing successfully with that infection. While education, public health campaigns and the active participation of members of the clergy have contributed in many areas to overcoming the stigma, much remains to be done — and progress is slow.

HIV/AIDS has also had a significant effect on the education sector. In sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV/AIDS pandemic is killing teachers at a rate faster than replacements can be trained. Another effect of the pandemic is teacher absenteeism, loss of educators, planners and management personnel.

It is estimated that close to 30% of teachers in South Africa are HIV positive, a higher rate than among the general population. According to statistics from Zambia’s education ministry, every day one teacher dies from an AIDS-related disease. This is the equivalent of the closure of one school per week due to loss of teachers.

Solving Africa’s persistent health problems requires three distinct steps: First, the development of effective and efficient healthcare systems. Second, increasing healthcare coverage.

And third, redirecting resources from curative care in urban hospitals using resource-intensive high-tech equipment to low-tech community-based primary and preventive care.

To some this may be not focused enough on basic needs, such as a necessary emphasis on putting into place the conditions for sustainable growth.

It is a known fact that any improvement in people’s economic status is immediately followed by an improvement in their nutrition and health. What’s more basic and essential than engendering economic growth?

Health problems in Africa cannot be considered in isolation — and are not only the responsibility of Africans themselves. Foreign technical and financial assistance is required. To be effective, aid must bypass corrupt governments and find ways to help people directly.

The emphasis should be on channeling aid through non-governmental and UN organizations such as WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA with a proven record of effectiveness, and long-standing experience in the countries.

Aid can strengthen civil society and community-based organizations — which are the basis of a democratic society. To bring hope to a continent ravaged by poverty and disease, effective action is required. It can be done #SDG3 #HealthforAll #UniversalHealthCare

 

Africa’s solutions to poverty eradication in 2019

The number of people living in extreme poverty is becoming concentrated in some of the most unstable and populous parts of Africa, raising the risk of political violence and devastating disease outbreaks.

2019 should be remembered as the year we put extreme poverty on the defensive, but getting there will require world leaders to match bold ideas with strong leadership and immediate action, we now also need to think more broadly and recognize the greater complexity inherent in the concept of poverty around the world.

In order to understand the urgency of this crisis and the opportunity 2019 holds to help correct it, it’s important to understand the facts.

Over the past three decades, over a billion people have escaped extreme poverty

. This has been one of the greatest examples of global cooperation in the past century and an achievement measured not in dollars spent, but in lives saved. But our work isn’t done. Over 700 million people are still living on less than $1.90 a day, over half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Helping the first billion people living in extreme poverty lift themselves out has been hard. Reaching the next billion will be even harder. And we’re quickly approaching midnight without a plan.

By 2050, half of all Africans will be under the age of 25. With this comes a huge opportunity for economic growth. But this growing young population also needs to be educated, employed and empowered. We face a simple choice: invest today and yield a demographic dividend tomorrow, or risk squandering our best chance to end extreme poverty once and for all.

One of the most effective ways we can help make a difference in this fight is to ensure women and girls are not left behind. That they are finally given equal opportunities to access healthcare, education, financial services, and quality employment — and live their lives free from violence and discrimination. By increasing the amount spent annually on key interventions for women and children by just $5 per person, we can yield up to nine times that value in economic and social benefits.

As African governments draft their 2019 budgets, donor countries pledge new commitments, and private sector companies expand on the continent, they must ask themselves — every step of the way — how their choices will affect women and girls. Will these investments benefit women and girls, or further deepen existing inequalities? Imagine how many future doctors, teachers and humanitarians the world could gain if we give women and girls the education, economic opportunities, and resources they need and deserve to thrive.

African countries must also have a meaningful seat at the table and be better positioned to take greater ownership of their future. French President Emmanuel Macron has stated he wants the G7 in August to define an “international framework to fight inequalities” and build a new “alliance with Africa.” In order to achieve that, African leaders should be valuable, contributing participants in all G7 meetings, not mere photo ops. Too many African countries are falling short on their commitments to invest their own resources in areas such as health, education and agriculture. This year’s G7 could lead to real and reciprocal partnerships that are key to encouraging African countries to invest more in their citizens.

Finally, world leaders need to prioritise investments in global health that are desperately needed. You wouldn’t know it from watching the news or listening to lawmakers, but AIDS isn’t a disease of the past, it’s a crisis of now. Incredible progress against HIV/AIDS has created a false sense of security about an epidemic that still claims more than 2,500 lives every day. Extraordinary medical advancements have created hope for many newly infected, overshadowing the cruel reality that an HIV diagnosis is still a death sentence for people unable to get life-saving treatment.#EndingPoverty #SDG1 #SDGS #Sustainability #Humanity