On the 7th of July, 2007 the world would wake up to the mid-point of the MDGs. In 2000, 149 Heads of States and government met and decided to put an end to poverty by 2015.

The big question..."Is an end to poverty in sight?"

Statistics have it that majority of Nigerians (70%) live below the poverty line of $1 per day, while these statistics has been contested in some quarters the fact still remains that Nigerians whether young or old do not want poverty!

2007, is an important year for the world as it marks the half way mark set by governments around the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This therefore means that governments in the North have seven years to fulfill their promises on increase of Aid, cancellation of debts and ensure fair trade. On the other hand developing countries need to utilize these resources to ensure their citizens live a dignified life through the achievement of the MDGs.

The current situation in Nigeria is that while some significant progress has been made in some areas to meet some of the targets, in many areas progress is patchy, too slow or non-existent.

From now till the 7th of July, 2007 you can send us your comments and views on the attainment of the MDGs in Nigeria at nnngo@nnngo.org with '777' in the subject line.

The issues of stigma and discrimination relating to HIV/AIDS should be hand now by the govern met so that we can have a free youth population without HIV/AIDS
The challenges that we young people are facing today are formidable,
over 500 million people ages between 15 and 24 are living below the
poverty line (less than $2.00 per day). 6,000 young people are infected with
HIV daily And 1,500 women most of whom under 24 years die everyday as a
result of Early pregnancy or childbirth World Population Report 2005
indicates That almost a quarter of all individuals living with HIV/AIDS
are young People, yet they represent half of all new HIV infection
cases. 63% of those infected with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa in 2003
were between the ages of 15 and 24 HOW do we fight the stigma and discrimination that has become synonymous with HIV/AIDS and young women? How do we achieve universal access?
Young women are biologically more prone to HIV infection than men and
that the younger they are the greater is their risk of acquiring the
virus, nothing that the risk is greater in young women aged between 15 and
24 years.
The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is about 4.4% translating to over 3.5 million people. The highest rate (5.6%) of infection is among young people aged 20-29 years. Despite progress in expanding prevention and treatment in the country, only 20% of males and 10 % of females between the ages 14 -25 can correctly identify ways of preventing HIV transmission. 1,200 young people in Nigeria got infected with HIV every day, which shows that one person per minute. World Population Report 2005 indicates Youth even though are important segment of our society lack the necessary information, skills and services that are needed to prevent themselves from contracting the Virus yet the scourge is the scourge of our time.
The issue of youths participation in the control of HIV/AIDS has suffered set back. Since the formation of Youth network on HIV/AIDS (NYNETHA) and Association of Positive Youths in Nigeria (APYIN). The two networks that is youths focus mainly for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria have never received any financial support to address the spread of the Virus among
youth. I am of the opinion that it is essential that top political
leadership and ministerial officials should become more directly engaged in trying to control HIV/AIDS, in resolving difficult and enduring policy issues and in directing a truly multi-sector approach. Nigeria will have to overcome significant barriers such as pervasive
stigma and discrimination, youth involvement both in planning and implementation and meaningful involvement of PLWHA.
As we are entering into new political era, only high-level national leadership, Greater involvement of People living with HIV/AIDS and Youth participation can effectively confront the deep stigma and discrimination that surrounds HIV/AIDS and the high-risk behaviors at the center of the epidemic. Youth are critical stakeholders in development processes and in the control of HIV/AIDS, we need to be heard and support. This will start to break down the stigma and discrimination barriers that exist, and also provide a way for zero tolerance in our Country.

UN Chief Says Youth Key to Poverty Fight UNITED NATIONS, -With less than two months before he steps down as secretary-general after a long 10-year tenure, Kofi Annan is disappointed that the international community is lagging behind in its much-touted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. "Even though every government endorsed the Millennium Development Goals," he says, "We are not making faster progress as we wanted." At this rate, he warns, many of the goals will not be met, "so we need to re-affirm our commitment to these goals," which also include achieving universal primary education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. As part of this process of re-commitment, the United Nations has turned to the world's younger generation to increase awareness of the MDGs, and to help spread the word at the grassroots level. A declaration adopted Tuesday at the conclusion of a three-day Global Youth Leadership Summit -- described as one of the largest assemblies of youth -- called on all 192 U.N. member states to fulfill commitments made at the U.N. Millennium Summit in September 2000. "The older generation of leaders from around the world endorsed the Millennium Development Goals for 2015," said Djibril Diallo, chair of the summit, "but it will take the full commitment and talents of the younger generation to help achieve them." According to the United Nations, younger people represent one-fourth of the world's six billion people, of which 86 percent live in the developing world. The United Nations estimates that one in five youth live on less than a dollar a day, and about 45 percent live on less than two dollars a day. Diallo described the summit as a "landmark event" because the 400 young delegates, ages 16 to 30, who came from 192 countries, will return to their home countries "as spokespersons for MDGs reaching out to their peers and new partners to take action to help achieve the MDGs". At a press briefing Tuesday, Diallo told reporters that the United Nations had organised the summit as a way to create an interaction between generations, which was essential for the progress of the MDGs. "All indications were that, unless something was done, many countries would not reach the MDGs by 2015, and the United Nations recognised the importance of the role of youth in that effort," he added. As he surveyed the cavernous auditorium of the United Nations on the opening day of the summit, Annan declared that "this is the liveliest General Assembly Hall I've seen." He reminded the young delegates that there are still more than a billion people living on less than a dollar a day. Three billion survive on less than two dollars a day, he said, and more than 100 million school-aged children are not in school. Seven thousand young people become infected with HIV/AIDS. Every day, almost 30,000 children die of poverty. "These are grim statistics, but there are human faces behind them," Annan said. "All that can be changed, if we work together to meet the Millennium Development Goals, we work together to fight poverty and if we all work together -- the governments, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) -- to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the blueprint agreed by all governments in the hope of creating a better tomorrow in the twenty-first century," Annan added. He also told the assembly of youth: "That is where you, the young leaders, come in. Your voice and your organisation, activity and energy can hold leaders to those pledges that they have made." "I know you will not resign yourselves to a world where others die of hunger, remain illiterate and lack human dignity. We need to work in partnership with governments, the private sector and civil society," Annan declared. Organised by the U.N. Office of Sport for Development and Peace, the summit was supported by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and leaders of several charitable foundations and business organisations, including Mohan Lal Mittal, head of the Gita-Mohan Mittal Foundation, Hiroshi Matsumoto, president of the Inner Trip Reiyukai International (ITRI), a transnational NGO based in India and Japan, and John Gage of the U.S.-based Sun Microsystems. "Having grown up in a tiny village of Rajasthan in India, and coming from a modest background, I have had first-hand experience of understanding the lack of basic necessities that people face in many other regions of the world," said Mittal, who is also patriarch of India's Mittal Steel Empire. He said fighting poverty should not just be the purview of governments, international institutions or the private sector. "Rather, we need to devise creative and pragmatic partnerships that improve economies, create businesses, build education systems and increase health care services," he noted. Asked about the participation of the private sector, Diallo told reporters the United Nations always carefully studied its potential business partners to be sure they met ethical standards. Last year, a 265-member team called the Millennium Task Force unveiled a global plan of action aimed at reducing poverty by half and radically improving the lives of at least one billion people by the year 2015. A summary of the voluminous 3,000-page project, titled "A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millenniun Development Goals (MDGs)", listed a series of recommendations -- some of which were labeled "quick wins". These include: the free mass distribution of malaria bed nets which can save the lives of up to one million children per year in sub-Saharan Africa; and ending user fees for primary schools and essential health services, compensated by increased donor aid as necessary. At a much broader level, the recommendations also included the opening of high-income country markets to developing country exports; the creation of ambitious national development strategies; an increase in regional trade among poorer nations; elimination of debt; the provision of better quality aid; and a hefty increase in official development assistance (ODA) But most of these recommendations remain unimplemented.

CULLED FROM IPSNEWS

THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS:

SNAPSHOTS OF PROGRESS

In September 2000, 189 heads of state and government came
together at the United Nations for the Millennium Summit. At
the Summit, leaders firmly committed to fight together
against poverty and hunger, gender inequality,
environmental degradation, and HIV/AIDS, while improving
access to education, health care and clean water, all by
2015. These wide-ranging commitments gave birth to the
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are
measurable – each one has a set of targets against which
progress can be assessed.
So six years ago leaders made a solemn promise to the
world’s citizens.
Let’s take a look at each Goal and some of the specific
targets within those Goals to get a sense of where things
stand on these promises.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Fact: 1.1 billion people are forced to survive on less than $1
a day.
Target: The first goal aims to halve the proportion of people
whose income is less than $1 a day.
www.millenniumcampaign.org
Progress: On current trends, this target will be met at the
global level by 2015. However, the target will be met largely
because of positive developments in Asia – in particular in
India and China. While this success should not be
underestimated, there are regions which are lagging and
which will not make the necessary progress; this is
particularly the case for sub-Saharan Africa.
Fact: Over 800 million people – almost twice the population
of the 25-country European Union – suffer from chronic
hunger, meaning they do not get enough food to lead an
active and healthy life.
Target: Goal 1 also aims to halve the proportion of people
who suffer from chronic hunger.
Progress: The percentage of the world’s population suffering
from chronic hunger has fallen somewhat in recent years.
Modest progress is being registered in the worst affected
regions – sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Nevertheless,
the decline is slowing and is not currently sufficient to
ensure that we meet the target by 2015.
What is more, the fall in the proportion of people suffering
from chronic hunger has not been enough to prevent the
actual number of people suffering from hunger from
increasing. Trends in East Asia provide some reason for
concern: after falling in the early 1990s the absolute number
of people suffering from chronic hunger is again rising.
www.millenniumcampaign.org
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Fact: Over 100 million school-age children are not in school
and over 100 million more children that are currently in
school will leave without learning to read or write.
Target: The second goal aims to ensure that, by 2015, girls
and boys alike will be able to complete a full course of
primary schooling.
Progress: There is some progress on getting children into
schools. Net enrollment ratios are increasing in the two
regions which are most behind, i.e. sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia. However, there is a need for more progress on
keeping children in school. Neither sub-Saharan Africa nor
South Asia is on track to ensuring that all children complete
a full course of primary education by 2015. Other regions are
either close to universal primary education or are close to
making sufficient progress by 2015. However, there are
individual countries within even these more successful
regions which are still seriously lagging.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Fact: More than one in five girls of primary-school age
around the world are not in school.
Target: When a country educates its girls, its mortality rates
usually fall and the health and education prospects of the
next generation improve. The third goal aims to eliminate
www.millenniumcampaign.org
gender disparities in primary and secondary education,
preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education by no later
than 2015.
Progress: Unfortunately, the first of the Millennium
Development Goal targets – to eliminate gender parities in
primary and secondary education by 2005 – has already been
missed. Gender gaps continue to exist in all educational
levels. Globally, more than one in five girls of primary school
age are not in school compared with about one in six
boys. Of most concern are the wide gender gaps in primary
education in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where almost
80% of the world’s out-of-school children live. In sub-
Saharan Africa 42% of primary school age girls are out of
school compared with 38% of boys. In South Asia the gap is
wider with 29% of primary-school age girls out of school
compared with 22% of boys.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Fact: Each year almost 11 million children under the age of 5
die in developing countries, most of them from preventable
causes. 11 million is more than the entire population of
Belgium.
Target: Goal 4 aims to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate
for children under the age of 5.
Progress: Though survival prospects continue to improve in
every region, at the global level progress has slowed
considerably in recent years. This means that we are far from
making the necessary progress to reduce under-five mortality
rates by two-thirds by 2015. According to the most recent
data available, only 35 countries are making enough
progress. Sub-Saharan Africa – which is ravaged by civil
disturbance and HIV/AIDS – provides the most cause for
concern. This region has only 20% of the world’s young
children but accounts for half of the total deaths.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Fact: Death in childbirth is a rare event in rich countries,
where there are typically fewer than 10 maternal deaths for
every 100,000 live births. In the poorest countries of Africa
and Asia the ratio can be 100 times higher.
Target: Goal 5 aims to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by
three-quarters by 2015.
Progress: Despite the issue of maternal mortality having
been high on the international agenda for two decades,
ratios of maternal mortality have changed little in the
regions where the most deaths occur: sub-Saharan Africa and
Southern Asia.
Adequate reproductive health services, family planning
advice, skilled attendants at delivery and timely referrals to
emergency obstetric care are all necessary to reduce
maternal deaths. All regions are showing some improvement
in the proportion of deaths attended by skilled health-care
personnel. Nevertheless, only 46% of deliveries in sub-
Saharan Africa – where almost half of the world’s maternal
deaths occur – are attended by skilled personnel.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Fact: Today, someone living in Zambia has less chance of
reaching the age of 30 than someone born in England in 1840
– and the gap is widening. HIV/AIDS is at the heart of this
massive reversal in life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa.
Target: Goal 6 aims to have halted and reversed the spread of
HIV/AIDS by 2015.
Progress: Globally, HIV infection rates continue to increase
and the number of people living with HIV has continued to
rise from 36.2 million in 2003 to 38.6 million in 2005. This is
despite the fact that several countries report success in
reducing HIV infection rates.
The epidemic remains centered on sub-Saharan Africa. With
just over 10% of the world’s population, the region is home
to 64% of HIV-positive people and to 90% of children (under
15) living with the virus. Around 59% of HIV-positive adults in
sub-Saharan Africa are women. HIV prevalence rates in sub-
Saharan Africa appear to be leveling off at relatively high
rates, but this apparent stabilization reflects the fact that as
new people acquire the virus, nearly the same number die
from AIDS.
While prevalence rates are lower outside of sub-Saharan
Africa, the number of people infected is increasing and so is
the death rate. In 2005, there were almost a million new
cases in South and East Asia, where more than 7 million
people are now living with HIV/AIDS.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Fact: In sub-Saharan Africa 300 million people lack access to
safe drinking water.
Target: Goal 7 aims to halve the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Progress: The share of people using drinking water from
improved sources has continued to rise in the developing
world. This share increased to 80% in 2004 from 71% in
1990. This means that the world is currently on track to
reach the drinking water target. However, growing
populations and wide disparities between urban and rural
areas within countries pose continuing challenges.
At a regional level, while there is progress in sub-Saharan
Africa, it is not yet on track to meet the target. Moreover,
this is the region with the worst disparities between rural
and urban populations.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Fact: In 1970 almost all of the rich countries of the world
promised to provide 0.7% of their national income (GNI) in
aid. Today – more than 35 years later – only 5 countries
fulfill this commitment.
Target: Goal 8 aims to create a global partnership for
development between rich and poor countries. In particular,
rich countries are committed to providing more and better
quality aid, to enhancing debt relief and to fairer trade rules.
Progress: Even though 21 of the 22 OECD donor countries
signed up to the 0.7% target for aid in 1970, in 2005 these
countries together provided only 0.33% of their collective
national income in development assistance! However, in
May 2005, the more prosperous European Union Member
States – the EU-15 – recommitted to meeting the 0.7% target
by 2015. These countries need to plan carefully to rapidly
increase their aid, and other countries should follow their
lead. However, without improvements in aid quality,
increased aid will not eliminate poverty. Yet donors are slow
or absent in operational sing aid-quality commitments.
In recent years, there have been enhanced global initiatives
for the cancellation of both bilateral and multilateral debt.
While debt relief is key to releasing resources for MDG focused
expenditures in developing countries, it is important
that debt relief is not used to ‘artificially’ boost aid figures –
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as it counts in the official definition of aid – and to divert
funds away from the most needy countries and individuals.
More than aid and debt relief, trade has the potential to
increase the share of the world’s poorest in global
prosperity. Yet, rich country trade policies continue to deny
the poor this opportunity. Remedying this situation requires
a host of measures such as cutting rich country agricultural
subsidies and opening up rich country markets to the exports
of poor producers in developing countries. Unfortunately, a
key opportunity to do this was lost in 2006 when talks on a
new world trade agreement under the so-called Doha
“Development” Round of trade talks were indefinitely
suspended.

Sources;
United Nations (2006), “The Millennium Development Goals
Report”
World Bank (2006), “World Development Indicators”
United Nations Development Programme (2005), “Human
Development Report 2005: International cooperation at a
crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal world”