Tags: General News, Poverty
By Alexander Villafania
PASIG CITY, METRO MANILA — As the world weathers out the disastrous economic crisis for the last two years, Asia’s poor population could still suffer considerably as parts of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are not implemented.
The MDG is a joint program by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAO), the UN Development Program and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Its goal is to consolidate the information drive of development activities across all government and private agencies in Asia-Pacific.
In an ADB statement, the momentum in implementing these MDGs were undermined in Asia-Pacific. In 2009, the crisis has severely affected 17 million people under the poverty line. Another 4 million people are expected to be affected by the crisis, giving a total of 21 million affected acrross Asia-Pacific.
The UN and ADB stressed that Asia-Pacific countries are still home to 50 percent of all people worldwide who are living under US$1.25 (approximately 60 pesos) per day. As of late 2008, Asia has a population of 4.1 billion. Only 20 percent of unemployed and underemployed people in this region have access to labor markets and only 30 percent of senior citizens receive pensions.
“Asia has much weaker social protection compared to other regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe. Without better protection people fall back into poverty with economic crisis, health pandemics and natural disasters and cannot recover easily, making the achievement of MDGs more difficult,” according to Ajay Chhibber, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific and UN Assistant Secretary-General.
Nevertheless, the ADB noted that the global crisis has also exposed the vulnerabilities of Asia-Pacific countries, which would allow those involved in the MDG program to address these problems.
The UN and ADB provide annual reports entitled “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in an Era of Global Uncertainty: Asia-Pacific Regional Report” which highlights trends in MDG implementation and improvements across the region.
ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss said social spending must be stepped up substantially if human impact of an economic slowdown are resolved.
In the Philippines, the poverty level is said to be increasing. Currently, the most official statistics is from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NCSB) which stressed that the magnitude of poor people in the Philippines reached 12.8 million as of 2006. The Philippines’ population is has reached 92.2 million by the end of 2009.
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