We have made significant progress in terms of reducing poverty and hunger

Jun 22, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Guyana has come a far way in terms of reducing poverty and hunger. This fact was acknowledged by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) when it presented the country with an award at its headquarters in Rome recently. Guyana was also lauded by the United Nations bodies in Guyana as well on its achievement of the first of a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) namely, to reduce the proportion of hunger and undernourishment by half or more by the year 2015.
Guyana was one of scores of other countries that signed on to the MDG goals over two decades ago aimed at reducing poverty and improving the quality of life of the global population.
With two years to go before the set deadline, Guyana along with 38 other countries, had already met the internationally established targets in the fight against hunger. Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were the only two countries in CARICOM to have satisfied that goal. The evaluation of Guyana’s performance was done during the periods 1990-1992 and 2010-2012 against benchmarks established by the international community at the United Nations General Assembly.
In addition, Guyana has also met the World Food Summit goal of reducing by half the absolute number of undernourished during the same period of review. That goal was set in 1996, when 180 countries of the world met at the Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarters in Rome to discuss ways of ending poverty and hunger.
This is by any standards a signal achievement for the country, in particular for our farmers and fishermen who should be commended for such an achievement. The country was recognized for the progress made, at a high-level award ceremony in Rome, along with the other countries. Receiving the award on behalf of Guyana was Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues -Birkett.
Fittingly, the United Nations bodies in Guyana lauded the outstanding achievement made by the country in meeting these targets and praised the government’s commitment to investment in the agriculture sector as well as to regional food security. According to a statement released the “FAO is pleased to have partnered with the government in its efforts and will continue to work closely with them, and other development partners to eradicate hunger and promote food and nutrition security not only in the country but in the wider Caribbean.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by UNICEF Guyana representative Dr. Suleiman Braimoh who said that Guyana’s achievement of the MDG is a significant step in positively impacting on the lives of children since a disproportionate share of the burden of poverty often falls on them.
Ending hunger and malnutrition requires collaborative and interagency approaches involving key stakeholders more particularly the Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education. In this regard, the support rendered by the Health Ministry in terns of providing breast feeding support and nutritional support for babies and their mothers both at the pre-and post natal stages of stages of development should be acknowledged.
Millions of dollars are being spent annually under the Basic Nutrition Programme of the Ministry in support of pregnant mothers throughout the country which have had a positive impact on the health and nutritional status of both mother and child.
The School Feeding Programme offered by the Ministry of Education has also impacted well in terms of providing nutritional support to school children, especially those in their early formative years. It is pertinent to note that following the removal of Guyana from the list of countries in need of assistance for nutritional food supplement some years ago by the World Food Programme, the Guyana government continued with the programme of providing meal supplements for school children at significant financial cost.
Guyana is well poised to meet its other millennium goals, especially in the areas of education and health. In relation to education, the country has already attained the goal of universal access to education at the primary level and every effort is being made to upgrade the quality of education delivery at the secondary and tertiary levels. The same can be said for the delivery of health care even though some challenges still persist in terms of the reduction of maternal deaths and infant mortality rates.
There can be no doubt that considerable progress has been made over the years to reduce poverty in Guyana and to upgrade the quality of life of the Guyanese people. From the second poorest country in the western hemisphere during the 1970-1980 period, the country has advanced progressively along the development continuum and is now ranked among the lower middle income countries. The per capita income has more than quadrupled since the assumption to office of the PPP/C administration, a dramatic reversal of fortunes after nearly two decades of economic and social decline prior to the restoration of democracy in October 1992.
Hydar Ally

 

 

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