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         Africa Lags Behind Schedule

         The East African Standard (Nairobi)
         NEWS
         January 18, 2005
         Posted to the web January 18, 2005

         By Benson Kathuri
         Nairobi

         Sub-Saharan Africa may end up as the only region that will fail to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations has
         said.

         The UN Millennium project 2005 reveals that the region has lost track of all the goals that were agreed upon by heads of state in New
         York five years ago.

         But as sub-Saharan Africa stumbles, North Africa including Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco remain firmly on track, the
         report says.

         These countries have, for example, made good progress in halving the proportion of their populations without safe drinking water in
         urban areas.

         The MDG blueprint says the fight against poverty and hunger remains Africa's biggest challenges.

         It says Sub-Saharan Africa is facing the worst forms of poverty despite efforts that are being made to curb mass impoverishment.

         The UN says the level of poverty remains high in Africa with no visible change five years since the launch of MDG programmes.

         Though achieving universal primary education is off the track, some progress has been noted in countries like Kenya that has introduced
         universal primary education programmes.

         Africa is also doing badly on the gender parity front with girls' enrollment in both primary and secondary schools lagging far behind those
         of boys.

         Women's participation in the political leadership is extremely low in a region that also has the highest child mortality rates.

         The report notes that though immunization had picked up in the 1980s decline has occurred exposing millions of children to preventable
         diseases.

         "Sub-Saharan Africa, most dramatically, has been in a downward spiral of Aids, resurgent malaria, falling food output per person and
         deteriorating shelter condition," the UN says.

         The report warns that climate change could worsen the situation by increasing food insecurity, spreading victor-borne diseases, and
         increasing the likelihood of natural disasters.

         Though the UNDP insists that Millennium Development Goals are too important to fail, Sub-Saharan Africa still faces the highest
         maternal mortality rate in the world.




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