Alleviation of poverty in South Asia was much slower compared to other regions of the world between 1999 and 2005. The progress made is also under threat of global economic contraction and lost jobs, says the annual UN report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Bright spots do emerge from the UN 2009 Millennium Development Goals Report, which was released by the UN Information Centre in New Delhi: an 11 per cent gain in primary school enrollment between 2000 and 2007 and a big victory for girls, moving from 84 girls per 100 boys in 1999 enrollment to 95 girls per 100 boys in 2007; and a drop in tuberculosis prevalence from 543 cases per 100,000 people in 1990 to 268 cases in 2007.

Countries in South Asia have largely escaped the increase in hunger rate seen in other parts of the world since 2007, according to the report, and India has even made progress against hunger in the face of rising prices. However, access to food or expected lowering of food prices has not happened in the country. India has been named along with Brazil and Nigeria as countries where decrease in food prices after mid-2008 was not as expected.

The region has got red marks in undernourishment for children under five years of age. Providing sanitation to people, maternal health and even gender statistics are not that encouraging for the region.

According to a UN press release, holding steady against hunger is not a satisfactory option in a region which is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in the proportion of people who are undernourished (21 per cent in 2008), and ranks the worst in proportion of under-five-year-olds who are underweight (48 per cent in 2007).

... contd.