Petronella Sibeene
28 October 2008
Windhoek — A conference on African ministers of social development started in the capital yesterday. The conference aims to identify and accelerate measures that would promote healthier and better lives for the people on the continent.
African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs Advocate, Bience Gawanas, said yesterday that despite commitments made by leaders of the continent regarding social development, more than a decade later, the people are still languishing in poverty.
Other problems include unemployment, violence, disease, conflicts, disasters and environment degradation, poor education and lack of basic services and facilities.
Gawanas said the situation has been compounded by the impact of globalisation and rapid processes of change that have left the vulnerable poorer and undermined in terms of social justice and equity.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Social Services on Friday announced that the meeting will look at the continent's stance on human development as stated in various instruments adopted by the African Union and World Summit on Social Development.
"After a decade, it is pertinent to take stock of the situation, identify what has worked well, the good practices and constraints," Minister of Health, Dr Richard Kamwi, said.
Top on the meeting's agenda will be a plan of action on the family, the African Decade for Disabled Persons, the establishment of a steering committee on the elderly and the ageing and a study on social protection systems in Africa.
Generally, the conference will look at the poverty situation especially in sub-Saharan Africa where little progress has been made in trying to reduce the number of people surviving on less than one US dollar a day.
The meeting will be held in two phases starting with a meeting of experts that started yesterday and ends today. The ministers' meeting will follow on Thursday and Friday.
"During the first two days of the conference, experts from member states will consider the documents and provide input and make appropriate recommendations for the ministers' consideration and approval," Kamwi said.
Participants will include the Africa Union member states and commission, UN agencies, development partners and international, regional and national organisations.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
