Maravi

‘Zambia’s economic growth not enough to eradicate poverty by 2015’

‘Zambia’s economic growth not enough to eradicate poverty by 2015’
By Staff Reporter
Sat 30 Oct. 2010, 03:59 CAT

ZAMBIA’S current economic growth is not sufficient to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015, a recent update on the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has indicated.

Analysing Zambia’s progress towards the attainment of the MDGs by 2015, the UN country team stated that macro-economic and structural policies that promote employment, economic inclusion, empowerment and social investment were essential in reducing poverty.

“Extreme poverty declined from 58 per cent in 1991 to 51 per cent in 2006, improving towards the target of 29 per cent. However, extreme poverty is still higher in rural areas at 67 per cent compared to 20 per cent in urban areas. On the target to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, the prevalence of underweight children declined from 22 per cent in 1991 to 14.6 per cent in 2007, while the target is 11 per cent,” the UN stated.

The UN further noted that net enrolment of children in primary education had increased from 80 per cent in 1990 to 101.4 per cent in 2009, supported by increased construction of schools, the removal of school fees in 2002 and free basic education and re-entry policies.

“The primary education target is thus attainable, as the objective is 100 per cent. The main challenges at present are adult literacy, which declined from 79 per cent in 1990 to 70 per cent in 2004 and the 17.4 per cent completion rate of girls in secondary school in 2009,” they stated.

The report further noted that important progress had been attained in malaria, under the MDG 6 which is to combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases, as the proportion of children under five who sleep under an insecticide-treated net soared from 6.5 per cent in 2001-2002 to 41.1 per cent in 2008.

Labels: MDGs, NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY

posted by MrK @ 4:31 PM