Thursday, October 11, 2007 Oledan: Indicators By Radzini Oledan Spices of Life
IN MINDANAO, almost 48 percent of families continue to live below the poverty level, which is much higher than the national average of 34.2 percent. Poverty remains to be a major cause of food inadequacy particularly in the rural areas and many do not have enough resources to live humanely.
The Asian Development Bank, in its latest review of 21 key human development indicators under the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG), said Philippines is an "early achiever" on eight of the 21 indicators -- increasing the completion rate in primary school, promoting gender equality in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, reducing tuberculosis prevalence rate, increasing protected environmental areas and consumption of ozone-depleting substances.
It was noted to be "on track" in other areas: reduction of mortality of infants and HIV prevalence, and improvement of urban sanitation.
The ADB report may have shown that the region as a whole was forging ahead but it also noted that there was "uneven progress" within countries, and many of the less developed countries still needed global support to plug some of the development gaps.
The MDGs relate to poverty, nutrition, education, gender equality, infant mortality, maternal health, prevention of HIV and other diseases, water access, sanitation and environmental protection.
Statistics cannot cover the realities on the ground.
The country spends 47 percent or nearly twice its combined spending on health and education for debt servicing. In all areas, debt service payments have taken precedence over providing people with a basic standard of living.
High level of malnutrition continues to be one of the major threats to child mortality in the country with a national average of 30.6 percent. It is worse in other areas.
In Western Visayas, malnutrition is pegged at 35.2 percent and 34.1 percent in Northern Mindanao.
The country was found to perform worse in the areas of increasing enrollment in primary school, increasing the number of children reaching Grade 5, increasing forest cover and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
The country lags behind Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Last year, it was cited as among the eight (8) countries that scored poorly in the development indicators.
One may opt to feel high on the traditional measures of development, but this will not hide the fact that countless families and children are effectively marginalized in development. Efforts on poverty reduction and human development should go beyond lip service, and statistical lies.
