SPECIAL TOPICS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Poverty is measured every 3 years.
POVERTY
 Pandemic pushed millions into poverty in
the Philippines, Government says.
-REUTERS-AUGUST
About 2.3 million people in the Philippines
were pushed into poverty between 2018 and 2021,
largely due to the economic downturn caused by
the pandemic. The number of people living in
poverty in 2021 rose to a total of almost 20 million
or 18.1% of the population from 16.7% in 2018, the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said,
overshooting the government's target of 15.5%-
17.5%.
 Ferdinand Marcos Jr aimed to
According to Economic Planning
Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. Recently inaugurated
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr aimed to slash
the poverty rate to 9% by the end of his single six-
year term in 2028 - a target that remains
achievable despite soaring inflation.
He said the government's strategy will
focus on fully reopening the economy, investing in
human capital and social protection, and
transforming production sectors to generate more
and quality jobs and competitive products.
"We can reduce poverty incidence by 5 percentage
points at midterm, and another 4 percentage
points by 2028," Balisacan told a media briefing.
 The PSA:
The PSA - which defines poverty as including
those Filipinos whose per capita income cannot
sufficiently meet individual basic food and non-food
needs - releases these statistics every three years.
Balisacan said that before the pandemic, in
2018, the country had achieved its goal of lifting 6
million Filipinos out of poverty, four years ahead of
a 2022 target.
 Pandemic pulls more Filipinos back to
poverty in 2021.
More Filipinos ended poor in 2021 compared
to three years ago after the pandemic wiped out
gains in poverty reduction that took years to
achieve.
A survey of 165,029 families nationwide
showed there were 19.99 million Filipinos living
below the poverty line last year, up from 17.67
million recorded in the comparable period in 2018,
the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Monday.
This translated to a poverty rate among
the country’s population of 18.1% last year, higher
than 16.6% rate posted in 2018.
The latest data indicates that the Duterte
administration ended its six-year term missing its
watered-down poverty reduction goal for its final
year in 2022, when a poverty reading will not be
conducted. Economic growth rebounded to 5.7%
year-on-year in 2021 from a historic crash in 2020.
The previous administration originally
hoped to cut the poverty rate by 13-14% this year
for the Philippines to become an upper-middle
income economy. There were notable gains in
2018 when the proportion of poor Filipinos was
lowered from 22% in 2015, but those wins
appeared to have been lost when the pandemic
struck. This prompted the government at the time
to temper that goal: to reduce the poverty rate to
15-17.5% this year.
 Meanwhile the Marcos Jr. administration
Wants to cut poverty rate to 9% in its final
year in 2028. To do this, the government is
targeting to slash the current poverty rate by 5
percentage points by midterm of the nascent
government.
"The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including income and employment losses, caused
the poverty incidence to rise," Socioeconomic
Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told a press
conference.
"Restrictions on mobility and low earning capacity
of poor households due to limited access to regular
and productive jobs made the lives of Filipinos
difficult," he added.
Sought for comment, Sonny Africa,
executive director of nonprofit IBON Foundation,
said that the latest outturn should be no reason for
complacent governance.
“The official poverty results may be taken
as showing trends among the extremely poor
Filipinos but it is oblivious to the continued distress
of millions more families made invisible by being
above the low official poverty line,” Africa said in a
Viber message ahead of the data release.
 Inflation threat
Data broken down showed a softer pace of
increase in mean per capita income within a three-
year basis. PSA data showed incomes from 2018-
2021 only grew 3.8% as opposed to a 20.9%
outturn in the previous releases.
For National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa,
the drop in per capita income was due in part to
significant declines in sources of household
income. According to Mapa, the drop came from
entrepreneurial activities, which was reduced P133
billion, and the reduction of cash remittances from
overseas Filipinos by P162 billion amid
repatriations at the height of the health crisis.
Likewise, inflation will worsen poverty
incidence, as Balisacan sees it. Inflation rose to
6.4% year-on-year in July, averaging 4.7%, on the
back of expensive fuel prices and a weak peso.
“The effects of inflation last year could have
negative effects on poverty yet what we saw in the
data is that income inequality actually declined,” he
said.
 For one, Balisacan
Said early on in the Duterte administration, he
did not anticipate the faster growth of prices in
consumer goods and services inundating the
economy today. But the NEDA chief is anticipating
lower poverty incidence this year despite inflation.
“It appears that opening up of the economy
that started last year (2021) particularly in the
second half of 2021, appeared to have favorably
affected the low-income groups. That’s quite
interesting,” Balisacan added.
Aside from inflation, Nicholas Antonio Mapa,
senior economist of ING Bank in Manila, said piling
on poverty incidence was a slower growth
momentum.
“Faster inflation and slowing growth
momentum could translate to increased poverty
incidence in the near term,” he said in a Viber
message.
Data also showed that a family of five knee-
deep in poverty would spend P8,379 on average
for food in a month in 2021. This was higher by
10.94% compared to 2018 figures.
“The scars of the pandemic continue to show
despite the recent string of positive growth
highlighting the fact that the economy is and was
in need of support post covid 19 lockdowns,” ING
Bank’s Mapa added.
By region, Metro Manila had the lowest
poverty incidence in the country at 2.2% last year,
this was still higher than 1.4% recorded in 2018.
Poverty in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao was the worst at 29.8% rate, but
this was a significant decline than the 54.2%
registered in 2018.
Despite the gloomy figures, the Marcos Jr.
administration is more than convinced it could
reach its poverty reduction target. The national
government is banking on the economic reopening
earlier this year and better employment
opportunities, among other things, to uplift the
quality of lives.
To hit their goal, Balisacan said they want to
trim the poverty rate by five percentage points
midway of the Marcos Jr. administration, then cut it
by four percentage points in the remaining years of
the term to hit their target. But Domini Velasquez,
chief economist of China Banking Corp., noted
their single-digit goal seems unattainable for now.
“Although we fully support the government's
target in reducing poverty incidence to 9%, this still
seems unreachable without transformative
reforms. A whole-of-society approach, the
government and the private sector, in steering the
economy to a high growth path should increase the
chances in lifting most Filipinos out of poverty,” she
said in a Viber message.
For Velasquez, the Marcos Jr. administration
could focus on other targets for the meantime.
“Improving Filipinos’ lives and getting more people
out of poverty should be the number one priority of
the Marcos administration. Providing more jobs,
mitigating the rise in inflation, providing targeted
subsidies to the poorest of the poor should be the
near-term game plan,” she added.
Sustainable Development Goals
• A well-known definition of sustainability, which
emphasizes its economic notion, comes from
the Bruntland Report (World Commission on
Environment and Development, 1987)
prepared for the United Nations in 1987.
• It says that ‘development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs’
deserves the label of sustainability. In other
words, it is about responsible use of
resources.
End poverty in all its forms everywhere
The decline of extreme poverty continues,
but the pace has slowed, and the world is not on
track to achieving the target of ending poverty by
2030. Extreme poverty today is concentrated and
overwhelmingly affects rural populations.
Increasingly, it is exacerbated by violent conflicts
and climate change. Tackling the remaining
pockets of extreme poverty will be challenging due
to their persistence and complexity—often
involving the interplay of social, political and
economic factors. Effective social protection
schemes and policies, along with government
spending on key services, can help those left
behind get back on their feet and find a way out of
poverty.
Progress against poverty continues but
has slowed, jeopardizing achievement of the Goal
The share of the world’s population living
in extreme poverty decreased to 10 per cent in
2015, from 16 per cent in 2010 and 36 per cent in
1990. More than one billion people have lifted
themselves out of poverty over the past 25 years.
Much of this progress was in Eastern
Asia, where the poverty rate fell from 52 per cent in
1990 to 10 per cent in 2010 to less than 1 per cent
in 2015. More recently, Southern Asia has made
impressive inroads against extreme poverty,
helping to reduce the global rate further. However,
the pace of change is decelerating. The nowcast
shows the 2018 rate of extreme poverty at 8.6 per
cent, and baseline projections suggest that 6 per
cent of the world’s population will still be living in
extreme poverty in 2030, if current trends continue.
Extreme poverty remains stubbornly high
in low-income countries and countries affected by
conflict and political upheaval, particularly in sub-
Saharan Africa. Among the 736 million people who
lived on less than $1.90 a day in 2015, 413 million
were in sub-Saharan Africa. This figure has been
climbing in recent years and is higher than the
number of poor people in the rest of the world
combined.
Forecasts suggest that without significant
shifts in policy, extreme poverty will still be in the
double digits in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. About
79 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas.
The poverty rate in rural areas is 17.2 per cent—
more than three times higher than in urban areas
(5.3 per cent). Close to half (46 per cent) of
extremely poor people are children under 14 years
of age.
Social protection systems fall short of
reaching the world’s most vulnerable people,
including children
Social protection programmes reduce the
brunt of poverty and can also prevent people from
falling into poverty in the first place. By helping to
prevent and ease poverty and inequality at every
stage of people’s lives, such programmes make
societies more inclusive and stable. However, only
45 per cent of the world’s population are effectively
covered by at least one social protection cash
benefit. The remaining 55 per cent—as many as 4
billion people—have been left behind. The extent
of coverage depends on the type of protection
system and the region.
Globally, 68 per cent of people above
retirement age receive a pension, but the benefits
in many countries are often not enough to lift older
people out of poverty. Data also show a global
deficit of social protection for other groups: only 22
per cent of the unemployed receive unemployment
benefit payments, 28 per cent of persons with
severe disabilities receive disability cash benefits,
one third of children are effectively covered by
social protection, and only 41 per cent of women
giving birth receive maternity cash benefits.
Furthermore, coverage of social assistance cash
benefits is as low as 25 per cent for vulnerable
groups—children, people of working age and older
persons not protected by contributory schemes.
The differences among regions are stark: 92 per
cent of children are covered by social protection
systems in Europe and Northern America, 56 per
cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, but only
13 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, and 14 per cent
in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.
Poverty affects children
disproportionately. One out of five children live in
extreme poverty, and the negative effects of
poverty and deprivation in the early years have
ramifications that can last a lifetime. Ensuring
social protection for all children and other
vulnerable groups is critical for achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
particularly in regions with large coverage gaps
between children and other segments of the
population.
POVERTY DURING PANDEMIC
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-
19) pandemic has put steady progress in poverty
reduction over the past 25 years into reverse, with
the number of people in extreme poverty
increasing for the first time in a generation. Now,
rising inflation and the impacts of the war in
Ukraine may derail progress further.
The combined crises could lead to an
additional 75 million to 95 million people living in
extreme poverty in 2022, compared with pre-
pandemic projections. While almost all countries
have introduced new social protection measures in
response to the crisis, many were short-term in
nature, and large numbers of vulnerable people
have not yet benefited from them. As things stand,
the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030,
with poorer countries now needing unprecedented
levels of pro-poor growth to achieve this goal.
Over half of the unemployed in high-income
countries receive cash benefits, compared with
1 per cent in low-income countries
Strong social protection systems are
essential for mitigating the immediate and long-
term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic
and preventing people from falling into poverty.
However, by 2020, only 46.9 per cent of the global
population were effectively covered by at least one
social protection cash benefit, leaving 4.1 billion
people unprotected. In response to the COVID-19
crisis, almost 1,900 social protection measures
were announced by 211 countries and territories,
although these were mostly (92 per cent) short
term in nature. Around 39 per cent of the measures
introduced were directed towards vulnerable
groups, while 26 per cent related to income
security and unemployment protection, showing
the high importance of social assistance and
unemployment benefits in responding to the crisis.
Still, only 96 countries have unemployment
protection schemes in place and, even where such
schemes exist, effective coverage is often limited,
especially in countries with high levels of informal
employment.
of all origins, including COVID-19. At least 80 per
cent of disaster-related mortality that year was
estimated to be due to the coronavirus. Even
without considering significant underreporting (the
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates global
excess deaths of 4.5 million in 2020), this figure is
already in stark contrast to the 2015-2019 period,
when the disaster-related mortality rate averaged
0.93 persons per 100,000 population.
As countries were coping with the
economic fallout of the pandemic, 33 countries
reported $16.5 billion in direct economic losses in
2020, due to other disasters. Of this amount, 41
per cent ($6.8 billion) was in the agriculture sector
and 38 per cent ($6.2 billion) related to losses
resulting from damaged or destroyed critical
infrastructure. Meanwhile, significant progress has
been made towards increasing the number of
countries adopting national disaster risk reduction
strategies. By the end of 2021, 123 countries
reported having such strategies in place, up from
just 55 in 2015.
END HUNGER
New Hope against Hunger: These 'Super
Beans'
Early signs of success in Africa
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 3, 2017 3:10 PM CST
https://www.newser.com/story/252376/new-hope-
against-hunger-these-super-beans.html

Globally, in 2020, only 43.1 per cent of the

labour force were legally covered
unemployment benefit schemes, and only 18.6 per
cent of unemployed workers worldwide actually
received unemployment benefits. Similarly, only
28.9 per cent of people considered vulnerable – all
children, along with older people and those of
working age not covered by social insurance – had
access to social assistance cash benefits in 2020,
with coverage varying widely across regions. Sixty-
three per cent of those considered vulnerable in
high-income countries received cash benefits
compared with just 7.8 per cent in low-income
countries.
Disaster-related deaths rose sixfold in 2020,
largely as a result of the pandemic
Biological hazards such as COVID-19,
along with other disasters such as tropical
cyclones and floods, can worsen poverty and slow
hunger alleviation. In 2020, based on reporting
from 80 countries under the Sendai Framework,
the disaster-related mortality rate was 5.74
persons per 100,000 population. This estimation
takes into account deaths resulting from disasters
(NEWSER) – The so-called "super bean,"
by
a fast-maturing, high-yield variety, is being
promoted by Uganda's government and agriculture
experts amid efforts to feed hunger-prone parts of
Africa, the AP reports. It's also a step toward the
next goal: the "super, super bean" that researchers
hope can be created through genetic editing. The
beans are thrilling farmers in an impoverished part
of northern Uganda that also strains under the
recent arrival of more than 1 million refugees from
its war-torn neighbor, South Sudan. The
International Center for Tropical Agriculture says
the beans have been bred by conventional means
to resist the drought conditions that can lead to
starvation as arable land disappears.
In Uganda, more than one million new
refugees from South Sudan have been arriving in
recent times, escaping their nation, overrun by war
and horrors. With barely enough to feed
themselves in poorer parts of the country, farmers
have been struggling to feed their own people in
impoverished areas, and the country had been
working to solve the increased strain given the
influx of immigrants.
 These beans are “super beans” which
mature and grow quickly and yield a large amount
of crop, with just 50 kg of them creating a crop of
2,000 kg, and are one more step towards
researchers’ goals of creating an even higher level
of “super bean”. These small, seemingly simple
beans are being promoted throughout Uganda by
both its government and experts on agriculture as
a way to help curb the difficulties in hunger-prone
areas of the country.
The beans are not made by high end
technology, and are not genetically modified, as
one may expect. Instead, they are created and
harvested through genetic selection of a traditional
and conventional variety, according to the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture. They
are carefully bred in order to be resistant towards
droughts and are fighting starvation every day.
The group operates one of just two bean
"gene banks" in Africa, which is expected to be hit
hardest by climate change even though the
continent produces less than 4% of the world's
greenhouse gases, according to the UN
Development Program. Beans kept at the two
banks are sent to partners in 30 countries across
the continent to be developed further so they can
cope with local conditions. The Uganda bank
stores around 4,000 types of beans, including
some sourced from neighboring Rwanda before its
1994 genocide killed around 800,000 people and
wiped out many of the country's bean varieties. Aid
workers hope the beans will encourage the
refugees to grow their own food rather than rely on
handouts, which in some cases have been cut
because of funding shortages.
There are only two so-called bean “gene
banks” in the entire continent of Africa, which the
United Nation’s Development Program predicts will
face severe difficulties as global climate continues
to change – and this is in spite of Africa only
producing less than 4% of all the greenhouse
gases released on earth. These gene banks are
located in separate regions: one is in Malawi, in the
south of Africa, and one is just off the city of
Kampala, which is where Richard Opio’s beans
were from. Over 30 countries in Africa have
partners to these banks, and receive beans from
them regularly in order to better develop and breed
them for their own countries’ personal climates and
conditions.
The bean gene bank in Uganda houses
approximately 4,000 different kinds of beans, some
of which were found and sourced from Rwanda
next-door before 1994, when mass genocide hit
the unfortunate country, causing the loss of around
800,000 lives and, in the process, killing many
bean species in the country.
The National Agricultural Research
Organization of Uganda ensures that all beans
they receive and handle go through a multitude of
rigorous tests so that they are certain to be able to
solve the issues that they were designed to help
address and fix, even in a wide variety of climates
and weathers.
More Filipinos Starving Amid The Pandemic
Anna Malindog-Uy
25 October 2020
https://theaseanpost.com/article/more-filipinos-
starving-amid-pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis is the worst crisis
that has plagued the world since the Great
Depression. It is continuously devastating
economies, people’s lives, jobs, and businesses
around the globe. One of the unsettling impacts of
the coronavirus pandemic is the disruption in
achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), more
particularly that which pertains to SDG 2 - hunger.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which has 17 Global Goals,
basically calls on the global community to place the
world’s most vulnerable and marginalised people,
including children, at the top of the agenda. It was
adopted on the 25 September, 2015 by world
leaders at the conclusion of the post-2015
intergovernmental negotiations.
The 2030 SDG Agenda wants to build a
better future for all people, especially those who
have been neglected and deprived of the chance
to live dignified lives to achieve their full potential
by ending poverty, reducing inequalities, and
saving the planet from ecological degradation and
climate change.
It is, in essence, the blueprint to a better
future for the planet and the human race. It holds
everyone responsible and accountable in ensuring
that the journey is successful and the gains are
sustainable.
SDGs and the Philippines
In a global ranking before the pandemic,
the Philippines like most ASEAN countries had an
index score of 65.0 out of 100 points. Its regional
average score was 64.1 and its SDG global rank
was 85 in implementing SDGs among the list of
countries. This is a bit above the ASEAN average
of 63.3, where a score of 50 means that countries
are halfway through achieving the SDGs. At the
time, this was quite promising.
Based on the SDG Index before the
pandemic, the Philippines fared positively on SDG
1 (no poverty); SDG 4 (quality education); SDG 6
(clean water and sanitation); SDG 12 (responsible
consumption and production); and SDG 13
(climate change). But then again, this may not be
the case anymore amid the pandemic.
However, the Philippines did not fare well
on SDG 2 – “zero hunger” before the pandemic,
and this may have even worsened at the onset of
the COVID-19 crisis.
Hunger Amid The Pandemic
According to the United Nations World Food
Programme (UNWFP), the impact of the pandemic
on hunger has been cruel for low-middle income
countries and that includes the Philippines. The
pandemic may cause “a food security and nutrition
crisis of historic proportions.”
The UNWFP also warns that an additional
200 million people around the world are expected
to lose access to basic food and nutrition as the
pandemic drags-on on top of the more than 800
million people who were already food-insecure
before COVID-19. That means about one billion of
the world population will be facing hunger.
In the Philippines, based on the 2019
fourth quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS)
survey, 8.8 percent of households or roughly 2.1
million Filipino families experienced involuntary
hunger once in three months, a slight improvement
over the 9.1 percent or 2.3 million families logged
in September 2019.
Moreover, based on the SWS survey in
July 2020, the hunger rate in the Philippines has
deteriorated with at least one out of every five
Filipinos experiencing voluntary hunger from May
to July, 2020.
The hunger rate in the country based on
the SWS survey was recorded at 20.9 percent or
5.2 million Filipinos and thus far is the highest
hunger rate recorded since September 2014 of
around 22 percent. Whereas, the 17-20
September, 2020 SWS National Mobile Phone
Survey revealed that around 22 percent or 24.1
million individuals experienced hunger once or a
few times, and around 8.7 percent or 9.5 million
individuals experienced hunger often or always.
Likewise, the 2019 Global Hunger Index,
ranked the Philippines at 70th out of 117 countries
at a level classified as serious.
Zero hunger
The world is on the verge of a global food
crisis, with a rising number of people experiencing
hunger and food insecurity even before the
COVID-19 pandemic. Global food supply systems
have been partially undermined by a cascading
combination of growing conflicts, climate-related
shocks and widening inequalities. As a result, as
many as 828 million people may have suffered
from hunger in 2021. The outbreak of war in
Ukraine poses an additional threat to food
insecurity, with the potential to provoke a surge in
levels of hunger and malnutrition, especially
among the poorest and most vulnerable. With this
global crisis looming, it is more urgent than ever to
address its root causes. The international
community must act now to avert a crippling food
emergency and the social, economic and political
upheaval that could follow.
Conflict, COVID-19, climate change and
growing inequalities are converging to undermine
food security worldwide
Climate variability and extremes, conflict,
economic shocks and growing inequalities are
keeping the world off track in achieving zero
hunger by 2030. Since 2014, the number of people
going hungry and suffering from food insecurity
has been on the rise. The COVID-19 pandemic
exacerbated an already deteriorating situation, with
about 150 million more people facing hunger in
2021 than in 2019. In other words, an estimated 1
in 10 people worldwide are suffering from hunger.
In addition, nearly 1 in 3 (a staggering 2.3 billion
people) were moderately or severely food insecure
in 2021, meaning they lacked regular access to
adequate food. This represents an increase of
almost 350 million people since the beginning of
the pandemic. The most worrisome increases were
seen in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Central
and Southern Asia, and Latin America and the
Caribbean. The unfolding crisis in Ukraine is yet
another threat to food security.
Ukraine and the Russian Federation are
large producers and exporters of key food
commodities, fertilizer, minerals and energy.
Together they are considered the world’s
breadbasket, supplying 30 per cent and 20 per
cent of global wheat and maize exports,
respectively, as well as 80 per cent of global
exports of sunflower seed products. At least 50
countries import 30 per cent or more of their wheat
from these two countries, with many African and
LDCs importing more than 50 per cent. Ukraine
and the Russian Federation are also leading
exporters of fertilizers. The conflict has caused a
steep and sudden reduction in exports of grain,
sunflower seeds and fertilizers. As a result, import-
dependent countries are vulnerable to rising food
costs and supply chain disruptions. Joint,
coordinated activities and policy solutions are
urgently needed to avert food shortages for the
world’s poorest people and to reduce the impact of
the conflict, as well as lingering consequences of
the pandemic, on global food insecurity.
Already slow progress on child
malnutrition has likely been set back further by the
pandemic and growing food insecurity.
Good nutrition sets children on a path to
survive and thrive. The full impact of the pandemic
on child nutrition may take years to manifest.
However, a likely scenario is that COVID-19,
together with soaring food prices, are exacerbating
all forms of malnutrition due to a loss of household
income, the lack of available and affordable
nutritious food, reduced physical activity and
disruptions in essential nutrition services. In 2020,
the latest year for which data are available, 22.0
per cent of children under age 5 worldwide (149.2
million) suffered from stunting (low height for age).
This is a decline from 24.4 per cent in 2015.
Subsequent years have seen continued constraints
in accessing nutritious food and essential nutrition
services due to the pandemic. To achieve the
target of a 50 per cent reduction in the number of
stunted children by 2030, the annual rate of decline
must double (to 3.9 per cent per year) from its
current annual reduction rate of 2.1 per cent per
year.
urgently required to reduce malnutrition and
address the growing threats to nutrition security.
The proportion of countries affected by
high food prices increased sharply in 2020
The share of countries affected by high food
prices, which had been relatively stable since
2016, has risen sharply, climbing from 16 per cent
in 2019 to 47 per cent in 2020. This shift mainly
reflects trends in international markets.
International prices of food items soared in the
second half of 2020, more than offsetting declines
in the first five months of the year. The price rises
were partly due to an increase in international
demand for cereals, vegetable oils, sugar and dairy
products as restrictive COVID-19-related measures
eased. In domestic markets, increasing freight and
agricultural input costs, as well as logistical
bottlenecks and market uncertainties, put
increased pressure on food prices. Prior to the
Ukraine crisis, international food prices were
already high, owing to market conditions, high
energy and fertilizer prices, and other factors. In
March 2022, global food prices were almost 30 per
cent higher than at the same time last year,
reaching an all-time high, though prices eased

Childhood wasting and overweight are

both forms of malnutrition and can coexist in a
population. In 2020, wasting (low weight for height)
and overweight were found in 6.7 per cent of somewhat in the subsequent two months. Soaring
children under 5 (45.4 million) and 5.7 per cent of
children under 5 (38.9 million), respectively.
Wasting is a condition that can be brought on
rapidly as a result of conflict, pandemics and
climate events. Related shocks in food, fuel and
fertilizer prices stemming from the war in Ukraine
could tip the balance even further, destroying
access to healthy diets. Childhood overweight may
also be on the rise in some countries where
unhealthy food replaced fresh, nutritious food, and
movement restrictions curtailed opportunities for
physical activity for long periods of time. Such
shocks, which have been occurring since 2020, will
reverse progress made to date without additional
interventions. An intensification of efforts is food prices threaten to exacerbate global food
insecurity.

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Problems Plaguing the Philippines’ Medical Care
By: MedHyve
August 15, 2021
https://news.medhyve.com/2021/08/15/problems-
plaguing-the-philippines-medical-care/
It goes without saying the medical care in
the country is far from perfect. Compared to
medically advanced countries such as the US, and
Singapore, the Philippines face a lot more basic
problems that prevent healthcare professionals
from giving the best care that they can. Here are
some of the problems plaguing the Philippines
medical care:
1. Majority of Filipino people lack access to
basic healthcare.
Even before the pandemic started, 16.7%
of Filipinos lived under the poverty line as
per Asian Development Bank. Poverty has
prevented millions of Filipinos from getting the
healthcare services they need. In short, a lot of
Filipinos are too poor to go to the hospital and get
the treatment they actually need.
2. There are not enough healthcare workers in
the country.
75% of cities and municipalities in the
country have an insufficient number of healthcare
workers, according to the government think
tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies
(PIDS). A lot of healthcare professionals have
opted to move abroad for better career
opportunities. Those that do choose to stay in the
Philippines are more likely to work in areas where
earnings are potentially high and near communities
where they were trained.
3. The healthcare industry has not embraced
digitalization.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) said that
99% of healthcare companies in the country still
use paper data. The Philippine healthcare system
has yet to integrate tools of digitalization such as
the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) to
streamline its processes. Thus, procurement of
supplies and the sharing of data has been quite
slow across the country.
4. Provincial hospitals have limited access to
medical supplies.
It can be challenging for hospitals in rural
areas to acquire all the medical equipment and
supplies they need to give patients the best care.
Hospitals operate with a limited budget, and it’s
important for them to acquire excellent quality
products for patients. Unfortunately, quality checks
and logistics can prolong the procurement
process.
To add to this, hospitals in rural areas
face logistical challenges. It can be difficult for
them to have products shipped to their facilities.
Given that the Philippines is an archipelago, the
process of shipping medical supplies can be
tedious.
Advancing
Good Health and Well-being
https://www.jointsdgfund.org/sustainable-
development-goals/goal-3-good-health-and-well-
being
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
for all
Since the creation of the Millennium
Development Goals there have been historic
achievements in reducing child mortality, improving
maternal health and tackling HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. In 15
years, the number of people newly infected by HIV
each year has dropped from 3.1 million to 2 million
and over 6.2 million lives were saved from malaria.
Since 1990, maternal mortality fell by 45 percent,
and worldwide there has been an over 50 percent
decline in preventable child deaths globally.
Despite this incredible progress, AIDS is
the leading cause of death among adolescents in
sub-Saharan Africa, and 22 million people living
with HIV are not accessing life-saving antiretroviral
therapy. New HIV infections continue to rise in
some locations and in populations that are typically
excluded or marginalized.
Chronic and catastrophic disease remains
one of the main factors that push households from
poverty into deprivation. Non-communicable
diseases (NCDs) impose a large burden on human
health worldwide. Currently, 63% of all deaths
worldwide stem from NCDs – chiefly
cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic
respiratory diseases and diabetes. The cumulative
economic losses to low- and middle-income
countries from the four diseases are estimated to
surpass US$ 7 trillion by 2025. Additionally, there
continues to be underinvestment in the social
circumstances and environmental factors affecting
health. The job on HIV and health is far from done.
Recognizing the interdependence of
health and development, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) provide an ambitious,
comprehensive plan of action for people, planet
and prosperity and for ending the injustices that
underpin poor health and development outcomes.
 SDG 3 aspires to ensure health and well-
being for all, including a bold commitment to end
the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and
other communicable diseases by 2030. It also aims
to achieve universal health coverage, and provide
access to safe and effective medicines and
vaccines for all. Supporting research and
development for vaccines is an essential part of
this process as well as expanding access to
affordable medicines.
Promoting health and well-being is one of
17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. An integrated approach
is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.
Facts and Figures
Child health
In 2018 an estimated 6.2 million children
and adolescents under the age of 15 years died,
mostly from preventable causes. Of these deaths,
5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost
half of these in the first month of life.
Despite determined global progress, an
increasing proportion of child deaths are in Sub-
Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Four out of
every five deaths of children under age five occur
in these regions.
Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more
than 15 times more likely to die before the age of
5 than children in high income countries.
Malnourished children, particularly those with
severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of
death from common childhood illness such as
diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Nutrition-related
factors contribute to about 45per cent of deaths in
children under-5 years of age.
Maternal health
Over 40 per cent of all countries have
fewer than 10 medical doctors per 10,000 people;
over 55 per cent of countries have fewer than 40
nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000
people.
In Eastern Asia, Northern Africa and Southern
Asia, maternal mortality has declined by around
two-thirds.
Every day in 2017, approximately 810
women died from preventable causes related to
pregnancy and childbirth.
94per cent of all maternal deaths occur in low and
lower middle-income countries.
Young adolescents (ages 10-14) face
a higher risk of complications and death as a result
of pregnancy than other women.
But maternal mortality ratio – the
proportion of mothers that do not survive childbirth
compared to those who do – in developing
regions is still 14 times higher than in the
developed regions.
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
 38 million people globally were living with HIV
in 2019.
 25.4 million people were accessing
antiretroviral therapy in 2019.
 1.7 million people became newly infected with
HIV in 2019.
 690 000 people died from AIDS-related
illnesses in 2019.
 75.7 million people have become infected with
HIV since the start of the epidemic.
 32.7 million people have died from AIDS-
related illnesses since the start of the
epidemic.
 Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of
death among people living with HIV,
accounting for around one in three AIDS-
related deaths.
 Globally, adolescent girls and young women
face gender-based inequalities, exclusion,
discrimination and violence, which put them at
increased risk of acquiring HIV.
 HIV is the leading cause of death for women
of reproductive age worldwide.
 AIDS is now the leading cause of death
among adolescents (aged 10–19) in Africa and
the second most common cause of death
among adolescents globally.
 Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been
averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of
children under five years of age in sub-
Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence
rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent
and the mortality rates by 58 per cent.
Good Health and Well-Being
COVID-19 continues to pose challenges
to people’s health and wellbeing globally and is
impeding progress in meeting Goal 3 targets.
Before the pandemic, gains were evident in many
areas of health, including reproductive, maternal
and child health, immunization coverage and
treatment of communicable diseases, though
progress was marred by huge regional disparities.
As of mid-2022, COVID-19 had infected more than
500 million people worldwide. The latest estimates
show that global “excess deaths” directly and
indirectly attributable to COVID-19 could have
been as high as 15 million by the end of 2021. The
pandemic has severely disrupted essential health
services, triggered an increase in the prevalence of
anxiety and depression, lowered global life
expectancy, derailed progress towards ending HIV,
tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, and halted two
decades of work towards making health coverage
universal. As a result, immunization coverage
dropped for the first time in 10 years, and deaths
from TB and malaria increased. Urgent and
concerted action is needed to set the world back
on a trajectory towards achieving Goal 3.
COVID-19 directly and indirectly led to the
deaths of nearly 15 million people in the first
two years of the pandemic
COVID-19 is now a leading cause of
death. The latest estimates suggest that 14.9
million people died as a direct result of COVID-19
or from the pandemic’s impact on health systems
and society in 2020 and 2021. This estimate is
nearly triple the 5.4 million officially reported
COVID-19 deaths in the same period. About 84 per
cent of these “excess deaths” are concentrated in
South-East Asia, Europe and the Americas (as
defined by WHO), and 68 per cent are in just 10
countries. The pandemic has severely disrupted
health systems and essential health services.
Interruptions in essential health services were
reported in 92 per cent of 129 countries surveyed
at the end of 2021. These disruptions were found
across all major areas of health, including maternal
and child health, immunization, mental health
programmes, and treatment of diseases such as
HIV, hepatitis, TB and malaria. As a result,
impressive strides in global life expectancy came
to a sudden halt. In many parts of the world, life
expectancy has fallen by one to two years.
To effectively curb the spread of COVID-
19 and prevent tens of thousands of additional
deaths, it is critical to ensure equitable access to
safe and effective vaccines. WHO has called for 70
per cent of people in all countries to receive
vaccinations by mid-2022. That said, global
vaccine distribution is far from equitable. As of May
2022, only around 17 per cent of people in low-
income countries had received at least one dose of
a vaccine, compared with more than 80 per cent in
high-income countries. For everyone’s health, it is
imperative that all countries and relevant
manufacturers suspend patents, prioritize vaccine
supply to COVAX, and create the conditions
necessary for the local production of tests,
vaccines and treatments.
The health and economic impacts of COVID-19
have likely worsened uneven progress towards
universal health coverage
Universal health coverage (UHC) is
achieved when all people can receive the good-
quality health services they need without facing
financial hardship from having to pay for them.
Even before COVID-19, alarming trends in
universal coverage were evident. The UHC service
coverage index improved from a global average of
45 out of 100 in 2000 to 64 in 2015 and 67 in 2019.
However, almost 1 billion people spent more than
10 per cent of their household budget on out-of-
pocket health expenses in 2017, and more than
half a billion were pushed into extreme poverty due
to these out-of-pocket payments. Data are not yet
available to provide a detailed and comprehensive
look at the impact of COVID-19 on progress
towards UHC. However, since the pandemic has
led to significant disruptions in essential health
services, the continuous progress made over the
last two decades has likely come to a halt. With the
combined health and economic impacts of COVID-
19, people may be facing greater financial
constraints in accessing care. Among those paying
out of pocket for health services, financial hardship
is likely to worsen further, particularly for those
already disadvantaged.
Widespread disruptions have derailed progress
against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria
In 2020, an estimated 1.5 million people
were newly diagnosed with HIV and 680,000
people died of AIDS-related causes. The incidence
of HIV infections globally declined by 39 per cent
between 2010 and 2020, far less than the 75 per
cent target agreed to by the General Assembly in
2016. Measures to slow the spread of COVID-19,
along with the added pressures on health systems,
have disrupted HIV services. In 2020, an estimated
10 million people worldwide fell ill with TB. That
year, the notification rate of new and relapse cases
in TB incidence fell to 59 per cent, down from 72
per cent in 2019. Disruptions associated with the
pandemic globally caused a noticeable rise in the
number of TB deaths, from 1.2 million in 2019 to
1.3 million in 2020 (excluding TB deaths in people
with HIV). This is the first year-on-year increase in
TB deaths since 2005, and it took the world back to
the 2017 level. Progress in reducing TB incidence
also slowed in 2020 to less than 2 per cent per
year. This is much lower than the 4 to 5 per cent
annual decline required to achieve the End TB
Strategy (i.e., an 80 per cent drop in new cases by
2030). Between 2018 and 2020, TB treatment
reached 20 million people, only half of the global
target. Due to the pandemic, TB incidence and
mortality are expected to worsen, especially in
2021 and 2022
An estimated 241 million malaria cases
and 627,000 deaths from malaria were reported
worldwide in 2020. This means that 14 million
more people contracted malaria and 69,000 more
people died from it than in 2019. About two thirds
of the additional deaths were linked to disruptions
in the provision of malaria services during the
pandemic. Even before COVID-19, global gains
against the disease were levelling off, and the
world was not on track to reach the targets set in
WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria
2016–2030. By 2020, the global malaria incidence
rate was 59 cases per 1,000 people at risk against
a target of 35. In other words, progress against
malaria was off track by 40 per cent.
Progress towards preventing, controlling
and eradicating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
continued in 2020, despite significant disruptions to
health services. The number of people globally
requiring NTD treatment and care declined from
2.19 billion in 2010 to 1.73 billion in 2020. Notably,
in LDCs, 48 per cent of the total population
required treatment and care for NTDs in 2020,
down from 79 per cent in 2010. This progress was
largely due to the elimination of a number of NTDs.
By the end of 2020, at least one NTD had been
eliminated in 42 countries. Important declines were
observed in the number of reported cases of
diseases targeted for elimination and eradication,
including African trypanosomiasis (sleeping
sickness) in humans and dracunculiasis (Guinea-
worm disease).
QUALITY EDUCATION
Beyond the return to face-to-face classes
By Mai Sigue-Bisnar August 31, 2022
https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/08/31/business/
top-business/beyond-the-return-to-face-to-face-
classes/1856594
ONE of the sectors that took a beating at
the height of the Covid-19 pandemic was
education. The UNICEF (United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund), which
continues to advocate for the resumption of in-
person classes in various countries, has noted that
while schools globally were forced to suspend
operations for an average of 79 days, those in the
Philippines did not hold face-to-face classes for
over a year and opted instead to conduct classes
through online and distant learning modalities.
The indefinite suspension of classes and the
subsequent and abrupt shift to new learning
modalities created challenges such as unequal
access to gadgets and online resources,
particularly for marginalized students. This was
another blow to the country, which prior to the
pandemic was already struggling to raise the
quality of basic education.
If there is a silver lining, the pandemic
shone a light on a not-so-glaring truth: the pivotal
role that educational institutions play in child-
rearing and caretaking. Parents struggled to fulfill
their duties as employees and home keepers while
working from home. Before the pandemic, those
responsibilities did not pose any challenge as years. The longer children are out of school, the
parents had support from teachers in caring and less likely they are to return. According to a 2020
promoting the welfare of their children. report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 24 million
It is not hard to see the reason behind the learners from the pre-primary to university level are
fervent calls of organizations for a return to face-to- at risk of not returning to school. Students from
face classes, considering the reduced number of
Covid-19 cases and the massive rollout of
vaccination efforts. The World Bank policy has said
that school closures can lead to learning loss as
well as adverse effects on students' current and
future welfare. The UNICEF has echoed this
stance, citing studies showing that children's
classroom experiences are good predictors of their
"future social, emotional and educational
outcomes."

Seen from an economic standpoint, the

World Bank has estimated earnings losses totaling
$10 trillion for today's generation of learners if
governments fail to implement the resumption of more disadvantaged backgrounds are at higher
face-to-face classes. The Unesco (United Nations risk due to socioeconomic factors such as the need
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to generate income, increased care
has also expressed fears that a prolonged responsibilities, and early and forced marriage.
suspension of in-person classes will put a dent on Those who were unable to access distance
the earning capacities and work productivity of learning during confinement are also at higher risk
parents as they are likely to miss work and stay at of not returning to school.
home, even when required to work on-site, to
attend to the needs of their children who take COVID-19 has cast a shadow on an already dire
online classes. picture of learning outcomes

Quality Education The COVID-19 pandemic came at a time

The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened a
crisis in education, with severe disruptions in
education systems worldwide. School closures
have had worrisome consequences for children’s
learning and well-being, particularly for girls and
those who are disadvantaged, including children
with disabilities, rural dwellers and ethnic
minorities. An estimated 147 million children
missed more than half of their in-person instruction
over the past two years. As a result, this generation
of children could lose a combined total of $17
trillion in lifetime earnings (in current value).
Governments need to implement ambitious
programmes to ensure that all children return to
school, recover their learning losses, and have
their psychosocial needs met.
when the world was already struggling with a crisis
in learning: too many children lacked the
fundamentals of reading and numeracy. Based on
pre-pandemic data from 2015 to 2019, the
proportion of children meeting the minimum
required proficiency in reading at the end of lower-
secondary school was between 70 and 90 per cent
in most high-income countries. That proportion fell
below 60 per cent in almost all middle- and low-
income countries, dropping to less than 10 per cent
in some countries. Learning losses due to COVID-
related school closures have been documented in
4 out of 5 of the 104 countries that have carried out
such studies. School closures are also likely to
deepen disparities in learning: many countries that
had poor learning outcomes prior to the pandemic
also tended to have longer school closures.

Prolonged school closures have heightened

the risk that children will not return to school

COVID-related school closures threaten

to reverse years of progress aimed at keeping
children in school. Before the pandemic, 17 per
cent of children and youth globally were out of
primary and secondary school, compared to 26 per
cent in 2000. From March 2020 through February
2022, schools worldwide were fully or partially
closed for 41 weeks, on average. Latin America
and the Caribbean experienced the longest school
closures – more than 60 weeks in the past two
Entrenched inequities in education have only
worsened during the pandemic
Over the years, education has become
much more widely accessible. That said,
inequalities in access persist among various
socioeconomic groups. In 2020, for example, 3 out
of 4 children attended some form of organized
learning one year before the official primary school
age. Yet, participation was highly unequal: among
countries with available data, disparities in
attendance were found based on gender (39 per
cent), urban or rural location (76 per cent) and
household wealth (86 per cent). The data showed
that girls tend to score higher than boys in reading
proficiency at the end of primary school. They also
showed that children living in rural areas and in the
poorest households are consistently more
disadvantaged in term of educational participation
and outcomes than their urban, wealthier peers.
School closures during the COVID-19
pandemic have deepened inequality in education,
with marginalized populations most affected. In the
context of remote learning, for example, children
from poorer backgrounds are less likely to have the
devices and computer skills they need to get
online, or a home environment conducive to
learning. Ensuring a safe return to school and
equity in education in the difficult transition period
ahead needs to be a priority.
Countries are improving schools as they
reopen, but psychosocial support for students
is often overlooked
One key to encouraging school enrolment
and retention is ensuring adequate facilities and
services. Yet, even basic school infrastructure is far
from universal. In 2019–2020, about one quarter of
primary schools worldwide lacked access to
electricity, drinking water and basic sanitation
facilities. Only half of primary schools had
computers and Internet access or facilities that
were fully accessible, including for children with
disabilities. In all of these areas, LDCs lag furthest
behind. Recovering from the pandemic – and
building back better – will require a significant
investment in school infrastructure and services.
According to a recent survey by the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about half of countries
with data reported taking “significant additional
measures” (as opposed to a “small-scale increase
in measures”) in water, sanitation and hygiene
services in schools after their reopening. This
proportion remains similar across countries in
various income groups. However, only 20 per cent
of countries undertook significant measures to
provide additional mental health and psychosocial
support for students. This is disturbing considering
the recent uptick in anxiety and depression among
learners.
GENDER EQUALITY
The empowerment of women
Education is the key to empowering women and
girls and building equality in society
Father Shay Cullen
https://philippines.licas.news/2020/12/07/the-
empowerment-of-women/
The empowerment of women and girls is
a most urgent need in today’s world where
discrimination, violence and exploitation of women
and girls, especially in the developing world, is
tearing the heart out of society and family life
causing human suffering, exclusion, sickness and
death.
Education is the key to empowering
women and girls and building equality in society by
defeating the superior and dominant attitude of
many men. Some wrongly believe they are entitled
to treat women as inferior and unworthy of
leadership roles in society, business and family.
At every level of social status, rich, middle
class, poor, besides formal education, there has to
be additional human rights training for boys and
girls from the earliest age in human dignity and
equality.
Women have to be empowered
economically by having skilled training and small
business opportunities and thus take control over
their lives.
 The economic power of women is
essential for changing the inequality and the
injustice in societies where women are treated
unfairly and regulated to some lower status than
males.
Money talks and in community-based
Grameen-loaning schemes, it is the women who
are mostly given the loans. They are considered
stronger, more reliable to pay back and wiser in
using the loans and more caring of the needs of
the children.
Having money empowers the women and
gives them status and respect in the community
and in their families.
The education of boys and men in values
to respect girls and women is vital. They must be
taught that their own value and dignity as a human
being and role in family and society is rooted in the
respect for the dignity of females.
The powerful machismo male, self-image that
looks on females as objects of sexual gratification
has to be replaced with one of respect, self-
discipline and equal partnership, gender equality,
and complementary roles.
Without empowered, self-reliant and
resilient women there is a greater danger of
violence against women and children.
The 2017 National Demographic and
Health Survey conducted by the Philippine
Statistics Authority says that one in every four
Filipino women and children age 15-49 has
experienced physical, emotional or sexual violence
by their abusers or husband or partner.
Female victims of child sexual abuse left
untreated leaves the child traumatized, to grow up
in fear of rape and sexual abuse. They can get
help and fight back but some may be rendered
fearful and submissive to the violence of the
abusive male in later life.
That is why intervention, protection,
healing and empowerment therapy is so important.
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women says it is “any act of gender-based
violence that results in, or is likely to result in
physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering
to women, including threats of such acts, coercion
or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring
in public and private life. Gender-based violence is
any violence inflicted on women because of their
sex.”
Domestic violence against women is
predominantly linked to failed intimate
relationships. In many cases, these are shallow
and short-lived, most are based on sexual
encounters and most are loveless relationships.
The woman is treated, not as a loving friend and
equal partner and respected mother of the
children, but as an object of sexual gratification
and a servant housekeeper and cook. The
dominated woman is dependent on the man as the
provider for her and the children. Many beaten
women endure physical abuse because of fear and
dependency.
The children in a family are greatly
affected by the violent rages of the man against
their mother. They, too, can grow up with the notion
that violence is a normal part of relationships and
be violent themselves. Children can suffer violent
sexual assault by the mother’s partner. Sometimes
the overpowered mother will allow the man to do it
as a way to sexually satisfy him and calm his
violent behavior against her.
About 80 percent or 32 million children
suffer from violence. Seven million of these
children are between the ages of 10 to 18 and are
sexually abused every year. Twenty percent or 1.4
million are under six years old.
Domestic violence is physical and
sometimes psychological. Arguments and verbal
abuse break out constantly, leading to a broken
home and child abuse.
Gender equality
The world is not on track to achieve
gender equality by 2030, and the social and
economic fallout from the pandemic has made the
situation even bleaker. Progress in many areas,
including time spent on unpaid care and domestic
work, decision-making regarding sexual and
reproductive health, and gender-responsive
budgeting, is falling behind. Women’s health
services, already poorly funded, have faced major
disruptions. Violence against women remains
endemic. And despite women’s leadership in
responding to COVID-19, they still trail men in
securing the decision-making positions they
deserve. Commitment and bold action are needed
to accelerate progress, including through the
promotion of laws, policies, budgets and
institutions that advance gender equality. Greater
investment in gender statistics is vital, since less
than half of the data required to monitor Goal 5 are
currently available.
Awareness of violence against older women is
growing, but data remain limited
Violence against women and girls is found
in all countries and affects women of all ages.
Globally, 26 per cent of ever-partnered women
aged 15 and older (641 million) have been
subjected to physical and/ or sexual violence by a
husband or intimate partner at least once in their
lifetime. Limited evidence points to an
intensification of violence against women during
the pandemic. A 2021 rapid gender assessment
survey in 13 countries, undertaken by the United
Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UN Women), found that
45 per cent of women reported that they or a
woman they know has experienced some form of
violence since COVID-19. Global awareness of
violence against older women specifically is
growing, but data on the subject are limited, and
the nature, scale, severity and complexity of such
violence may be underestimated. Less than 10 per
cent of eligible data on intimate partner violence
capture the prevalence of such violence among
women aged 50 and older. Limited evidence from
2000-2018 found that between 4 per cent and 7
per cent of women in this age group experienced
physical and/ or sexual violence by an intimate
partner in the last 12 months. Older women,
however, may be vulnerable to specific forms of
violence not usually measured in surveys on
violence against women, such as economic
exploitation, or being ostracized or neglected.
Perpetrators of such violence, aside from intimate
partners, can include adult children and other
relatives, strangers, caregivers and neighbors.
Child marriage and female genital mutilation
are persistent human rights violations holding
back progress for girls and women
In 2021, nearly one in five young women
were married before the age of 18. The highest
rates of child marriage are found in sub-Saharan
Africa and Southern Asia, where 35 per cent and
28 per cent of young women, respectively, were
married in childhood. Globally, the prevalence of
child marriage has declined by about 10 per cent in
the past five years. However, the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic have put more girls at risk,
owing to economic shocks, school closures and
interruptions in social services. By 2030, up to 10
million more girls are likely to become child brides,
in addition to the 100 million girls who were
projected to be at risk before the pandemic.
Another persistent harmful practice and human
rights violation is female genital mutilation (FGM).
At least 200 million girls and women alive today
have been subjected to FGM, mainly in the 31
countries where the practice is concentrated. In
many countries, it remains as common today as it
was three decades ago. Even in countries where
the practice has become less prevalent, progress
would need to be at least 10 times faster to meet
the global target of eliminating FGM by 2030.
Education is one key to its elimination. Opposition
to FGM is highest among girls and women who are
educated. Girls whose mothers have a primary
education are 40 per cent less likely to be cut than
those whose mothers have no education.
Progress in women’s access to leadership
positions, in both political and economic
spheres, remains sluggish
During the pandemic, women leaders
have acted decisively and effectively to implement
and manage response and recovery efforts,
prioritizing measures that address the most
vulnerable groups. Despite this widely
acknowledged success, the pace of progress on
women’s representation in decision-making
positions is discouraging. As of 1 January 2022,
the global share of women in lower and single
houses of national parliaments reached 26.2 per
cent, up from 22.4 per cent in 2015. Women’s
share is slightly over one third in local
governments. At this pace, it would take another 40
years for women and men to be represented
equally in national parliaments. Working women,
including those in managerial positions, have been
disproportionately affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. Many have had their hours reduced or
left the workforce altogether due to increased
unpaid care work at home. In 2019, before the
pandemic, women accounted for 39.4 per cent of
total employment. In 2020, women represented
nearly 45 per cent of global employment losses.
The share of women in managerial positions
worldwide saw only slight improvement from 2015
to 2019, increasing from 27.2 to 28.3 per cent.
That share remained unchanged from 2019 to
2020, which is the first year without an increase
since 2013.
In many countries, women still lack the legal
right to autonomy over their own bodies
Only 57 per cent of women aged 15 to 49
who are married or in a union make their own
informed decisions regarding sexual relations,
contraceptive use and reproductive health care,
according to data from 64 countries for the period
2007–2021. Critical to this decision-making ability
is the extent to which laws prevent or enable
access to relevant health care and information.
Among 115 countries with data, countries had in
place an average of 76 per cent of the laws and
regulations needed to guarantee full and equal
access to sexual and reproductive health and
rights. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are
likely having a significant impact on women’s ability
to exercise their bodily autonomy. In the first year
of the pandemic, an estimated 1.4 million
additional unintended pregnancies occurred in
lower- and middle-income countries. This could be
due to several factors. Women may have
experienced financial hardships that prevented
them from making their own decisions to seek
health care and contraception. During lockdown
periods, women may have found it harder to say
no to sex due to increased tensions in the home
related to health, finance and social isolation.
Finally, disruption or suspension of sexual and
reproductive health care may have made these
essential services inaccessible to women.
Protection of women’s land and property rights
still has a long way to go
Owning rights to land, specifically
agricultural land, reduces women’s reliance on
male partners and relatives. Yet, in 30 countries,
less than half of women had ownership and/or
secure tenure rights over agricultural land,
according to 2009–2020 data from 36 countries. In
18 of these countries, the share of men having
ownership was twice that of women. Gender-
responsive policy and legal frameworks are
essential to advancing women’s rights to land.
However, only 15 out of 52 reporting countries
included sufficient provisions in their legal
frameworks to offer women good protection in this
regard. The most prominent areas in which positive
results have been achieved are in succession
rights and in protection from being disposed in land
transactions.
Accelerated progress is needed to align public
financing with gender equality objectives
Building back better from COVID-19
means doing so in a way that advances gender
equality and women’s empowerment. Fundamental
to this goal is ensuring that the allocation and
spending of public financing takes gender equality
into account. According to data reported by 105
countries and areas for the period 2018–2021, only
26 per cent of countries have comprehensive
systems in place to track public allocations for
gender equality, 59 per cent have some features of
such a system, and 15 per cent do not have the
minimum elements of such a system. Accelerated
action is needed to expand comprehensive
implementation of gender-responsive budgeting
and strengthen its monitoring and evaluation.
CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
The members of the United Nations (UN)
adopted the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) in 2015. These 17 goals are designed to
unite nations in the common cause of ensuring the
general welfare of all humans by the year 2030.
These goals include a focus on ending poverty,
tackling climate change, and maintaining high
standards of resources.
SDG 6 focuses on ensuring a clean and
stable water supply and effective
water sanitation for all people by the year 2030.
The goal is a reaction to the fact that many people
throughout the world lack these basic services.
About 40 percent of the world’s population is
affected by a lack of water. As global temperatures
rise, that total is expected to increase. Already,
some of the poorest countries in the world are
affected by drought, resulting in famine
and malnutrition. Throughout the world, about 1.7
billion people live in a watershed where water is
used faster than the watershed can be
replenished. According to some estimates, if such
trends continue, one in four people, or more, might
experience water shortages on a regular basis by
the year 2050.
Compounding the problem of water
scarcity is the lack of reliable sanitation throughout
the world. More than two billion people worldwide
lack basic sanitation services, such as
simple latrines or toilets. More than 890 million of
those people live in regions where “open
defecation” occurs. This means that
human waste is left in the open. Adding to the
issue is the fact that 80 percent
of wastewater throughout the planet is emptied into
the ocean or rivers without proper waste removal.
Alarmed by these problems, the UN established
SDG 6 in an effort to make
adequate sanitation and water services available to
all people by the year 2030. As many as 800
million people, or more, would require the
construction of facilities to provide consistent clean
water and waste removal. To succeed in their
vision, the UN developed a series of targets. These
targets include restoring and protecting river
ecosystems throughout the world, eliminating
sources of water pollution, and increasing
international cooperation to bring services
throughout the world.
In an effort to reach the targets outlined
by SDG 6, some water companies have installed
smart meters in places where water scarcity is a
concern. These meters track and charge for every
drop of water used in a household, which has led
to higher water conservation in countries like The
Gambia and Tanzania. The CEO of one such
company, eWATERpay, claims that these meters
have reduced water waste by 99 percent.
Such efforts take time and require many
countries to work together. While some strides
have been made, based on information from a
2017 UN study, not enough has been done to
ensure that this goal will be met by 2030.
Managing these targets properly is the only way to
make certain all people will benefit from clean
water and effective sanitation in the years ahead.
Clean water and sanitation
As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, it
becomes increasingly clear that safely managed
drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services are
vital to human health. But unless progress picks up
speed – dramatically – billions of people will still
lack these essential services in 2030. Water is
fundamental to many other aspects of sustainable
development and is under threat. Demand for
water is rising due to rapid population growth,
urbanization and increasing pressure from
agriculture, industry and the energy sector.
Decades of misuse, poor management and the
over-extraction and contamination of freshwater
and groundwater supplies have exacerbated water
stress and deteriorated water-related ecosystems.
This, in turn, affects human health, economic
activities, and food and energy supplies. Urgent
action is needed to shift the current trend. To
ensure a sustainable and equitable distribution of
water to meet all needs, the average global
implementation rate of improved water resources
management needs to double. Additional efforts
are needed to increase investment in water and
sanitation and to further cooperation among
countries sharing transboundary waters.
Meeting drinking water, sanitation and hygiene
targets by 2030 will require a fourfold increase
in the pace of progress
The proportion of the global population
using safely managed drinking water services
increased from 70 per cent in 2015 to 74 per cent
in 2020. Still, 2 billion people were without such
services that year, including 1.2 billion people
lacking even a basic level of service. Eight out of
10 people who lack even basic drinking water
service live in rural areas, and about half of them
live in LDCs. At the current rate of progress, the
world will reach 81 per cent coverage by 2030,
missing the target and leaving 1.6 billion people
without safely managed drinking water supplies.
From 2015 to 2020, the world population
using safely managed sanitation services
increased from 47 per cent to 54 per cent. If
historical rates of progress continue, the world will
reach 67 per cent coverage by 2030, leaving 2.8
billion people without access. Over the same
period, the population practising open defecation
decreased by a third, from 739 million people to
494 million. The world is on track to eliminate open
defecation by 2030.
Frequent and proper hand hygiene is
essential to containing COVID-19 and controlling
other infectious diseases. Yet, over 1 in 4 people
still lack access to handwashing facilities with soap
and water at home. Coverage increased from 67
per cent to 71 per cent from 2015 to 2020.
Universal access to drinking water,
sanitation and hygiene is critical to global health.
To reach universal coverage by 2030, current rates
of progress would need to increase fourfold.
Achieving these targets would save 829,000 lives
annually. This is the number of people who
currently die each year from diseases directly
attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation
and poor hygiene practices.
The world’s wetlands are being lost at an
alarming rate; it’s time to protect and restore
them on a massive scale
Wetlands are considered the most
biologically diverse of all ecosystems and are
breeding grounds for 40 per cent of the world’s
plant and animal species. Unsustainable use and
inappropriate management of wetlands not only
result in the loss of ecosystem services but can
also pose direct risks, including disease. Moreover,
the degradation of wetlands releases stored
carbon, fuelling climate change. Over the past 300
years, over 85 per cent of the planet’s wetlands
have been lost, mainly through drainage and land
conversion, with many remaining wetland areas
degraded. Since 1970, 81 per cent of species
dependent on inland wetlands have declined faster
than those relying on other biomes, and an
increasing number are facing extinction.
Other water-related ecosystems across
the planet – such as lakes, rivers and reservoirs –
are also changing rapidly. One in five river basins
have experienced high (i.e., above natural)
fluctuations in surface water over the past five
years. Population growth, changes to land cover
and land use, and climate change are key drivers
of these changes. Urgent efforts are needed to
protect them and to prevent further degradation of
these precious biological habitats.
Early remediation of water pollution will require
active monitoring, which is sorely lacking in
the poorest countries
Improving water quality is essential to
protecting human and ecosystem health.
Assessments in 2020 of rivers, lakes and aquifers
in 97 countries showed that 60 per cent of water
was of good ambient quality. However, of the
76,000 water bodies assessed, only 1 per cent
were in the poorest countries. For at least 3 billion
people, the quality of the water they rely upon is
unknown due to the lack of monitoring. Data are
also lacking on groundwater, which often
represents the largest share of freshwater in a
country. Out of all reporting countries, only around
60 per cent included information about
groundwater.
Agricultural and untreated wastewater
pose two of the gravest threats to environmental
water quality globally since they release excess
nutrients into rivers, lakes and aquifers, damaging
ecosystem function. Accelerated progress is
needed to enhance farming management practices
and improve wastewater treatment rates to protect
freshwater quality, especially in regions with high
population growth, such as Africa. With a well-
developed monitoring system, water-quality issues
could be identified at an early stage, allowing
mitigation measures to be introduced before
severe deterioration occurs.
Stress on water resources in Northern Africa
and Western Asia is already at dangerous
levels
Water stress occurs when the ratio of
freshwater withdrawn to total renewable freshwater
resources is above the 25 per cent threshold. High
water stress can have devastating consequences
for the environment. It can also curtail or even
reverse economic and social development,
increasing competition and potential conflict among
users. Globally, water stress reached a level of
18.6 per cent in 2019. Although it remained at a
safe level (below 25 per cent), this average masks
substantial regional variations. Northern Africa and
Western Asia had a critical level of water stress
that year, at 84.1 per cent, an increase of 13 per
cent since 2015. More than 733 million people – 10
per cent of the global population – live in countries
with high and critical levels of water stress (above
75 per cent).
Promoting and improving water-use
efficiency relieve water stress. Water-use efficiency
improved by 12 per cent from 2015 to 2019 – from
$17.4 to $19.4 per cubic metre. But in agriculture,
the largest water-use sector, it was only $0.63 per
cubic metre in 2019. Increasing the productivity of
agricultural water is key to improving water-use
efficiency, particularly in arid countries reliant on
agriculture.
Most countries still lack cooperation
agreements on shared water resources, a
potential source of conflict
Transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers
are shared by 153 countries around the world.
Ensuring that these waters are managed equitably,
sustainably and peacefully, particularly in the
context of climate change, requires countries to put
in place operational arrangements for water
cooperation. According to data collected from 129
countries, 32 countries reported that 90 per cent or
more of their transboundary water was covered by
operational arrangements in 2020, an increase
from 22 countries in 2017. In Europe and Northern
America, 24 out of 42 countries have such levels of
coverage, compared to 5 out of 42 countries in
sub-Saharan Africa and a total of 3 countries
across the rest of the world. Accelerating progress
will require that countries address data gaps
(especially in relation to transboundary aquifers),
scale up capacity development and financing,
capitalize on global water conventions and the
draft articles on the law of transboundary aquifers,
and mobilize political will.