POVERTY: PHILIPPINES: Mindanao hospitals on alert for Leptospirosis

CAGAYAN DE ORO, 5 January 2012 (IRIN)

 Photo: Ana Santos/IRIN
Cagayan de Oro City has a recorded 173 cases of leptospirosis

Hospitals in Northern Mindanao are preparing for more cases of Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by rodents, following tropical storm Washi.
"All hospital and clinic staff are on alert," Jose Llacuna Jr, Department of Health (DoH) assistant regional director for Northern Mindanao, confirmed on 5 January, citing 314 cases and eight deaths in flood-affected Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan.
The two cities were pummelled by Washi, which struck northern parts of the southern Philippine island on 16 to 18 December, affecting some one million people.
More than 1,250 people died in the storm, while some 100 are still missing, the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on 5 January; close to 38,000 people are still in 54 evacuation centres in the area.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Leptospirosis affects both humans and animals. It is brought about by exposure to water or soil infected by the urine and faeces of rodents.
Common in slum areas, disasters such as typhoons can result in a spike in cases when residents are exposed to contaminated water.
Leptospirosis can cause fever, internal bleeding, meningitis and in severe cases, organ failure and even death, health experts warn.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the time between exposure to a contaminated source and falling ill is two days to four weeks.

Mostly males
About 80 percent of reported cases in Mindanao diagnosed were among males, with a median age of 26, Llacuna said.
"Men are left to clean up flooded homes and haul heavy objects. They are the ones exposed to infected flood waters," he explained.
"Most of the cases were among those who live in Macasinding, one of the worst flood-affected communities," Jose Chan, chief of the hospital at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, added.
Residents who had not taken shelter in the evacuation centres were particularly vulnerable, he said.
"Those who are not in the evacuation centres cannot be tracked or given medication or treatment. They are also likely to have prolonged exposure to the flood waters," Chan said.
But despite the outbreak, the levels of Leptospirosis are still nowhere near those reported during Typhoon Ketsana in 2009, when there were more than 2,000 cases and 167 reported deaths.

There is, however, still reason to worry.
"The accumulated mud is still a potential source of infection. It may still contain bacteria from the carcasses of rodents or their faeces and urine which remain in the soil," Brian Enriquez, focal point for Emerging Health Threats for the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), told IRIN.
Moreover, clearing of certain areas will remain difficult as regular water service is not expected to resume before 22 January. District water supplies to both Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan were severely damaged by the flash floods.
To date, only pipelines in certain parts of the cities are partially functional, while addressing lack of awareness is also a challenge.
Rapid diagnostic kits are being deployed by the DoH to test early symptoms of the disease. The region is not known to be prone to typhoons, flash floods and landslides and many people were ill-prepared to cope with Washi's aftermath.
"We're not used to this [flooding]," Ellen Satua, a local DoH official said. "People are easily worried that having a fever already means they have Leptospirosis. Rapid testing and diagnosis are part of reassuring them."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94590

MALNUTRITION: Phillipines: UNICEF nutrition experts visit Northern Samar

 November 17, 2011 Teresita B. Cardenas

CATARMAN, Northern Samar, Nov. 17 (PIA)) –- Nutrition experts from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently visited the province of Northern Samar to discuss the health and nutrition situation of the province with the Provincial Health Office and conducted field visits in order to see actual conditions of children suffering from undernutrition, as well as determine actual conditions in the health centers especially in the rural areas.
Dr. Yvonne Grellety, the team leader and a renowned technical expert and global pioneer in the management of acute malnutrition and Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) and developers of the national guidelines for Eutopia, Malawi, India and other countries was invited by Unicef and was accompanied by Dr. Paul Zambrano, Unicef nutrition specialist and Michelle Borromeo, Unicef fund specialist and focal person for Northern Samar has visited the area for two days.
Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator Engr, Romeo M. Cardenas said that CMAM, globally is the only intervention with strong evidence of success and sustainability to battle SAM is the CMAM, now called Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition or IMAM. The IMAM program is already being implemented in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia to address the issue of severe acute malnutrition in children.
Cardenas informed that children with severe acute malnutrition have a nine-fold risk of dying, and an intervention to address this problem was called for. In response to the issue, Unicef has initiated in 2010 with the local government of ARMM, a pilot CMAM program to combat the risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
Cardenas disclosed that the CMAM piloted in health centers and hospitals in ARMM has matched global standards in reduction of mortality from SAM. The success of the pilot project has demonstrated to the Department of Health (DOH) the need to come up with CMAM National Task Force, tasked to review the existing guidelines and to develop the Philippine guidelines for management of SAM in order to institutionalize CMAM as part of the regular programs of the Department of Health, on the ground, he added.
Cardenas also said that the information from this trip will be very helpful in the development of the national guidelines which will help improve not only health and nutrition in Northern Samar, but the Philippines as a whole.
In Northern Samar, 15 children were identified with severe acute malnutrition, and these children are would be recipients of the CMAM programs ones implemented in the area. (Teresita B. Cardenas/PIA , Northern Samar)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=64453

MALNUTRITION: Phillipines: I-rice: Key to eradicating malnutrition by 2015

Easter Anne Doza BACOLOD CITY, Nov. 16 (PIA) -- According to the Food and Nutrition Rice Institute (FNRI), iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is still a public health concern in the Philippines. In the latest 2008 National Nutrition Survey conducted by the FNRI, IDA is prevalent among children 6 months to less than 1 year, pregnant and lactating mothers.
Thus, NFA-Negros Occidental is conducting a series of advocacy campaigns on Iron-Fortified Rice that would encourage consumption of iron fortified rice. NFA Provincial Manager Marianito Bejemino said that I-Rice was designed to curb malnutrition especially among children.
“I-rice is priced the same as ordinary NFA rice. Generally, there is no change in taste, it's just psychological since I-rice is somewhat yellowish in color but that’s what makes it nutritious because of the yellow grains containing iron rice premix,” Bejemino said. He added that it has slowly gained acceptability since it was launched two years ago.
Provincial Nutritionist Alice Matti revealed that the government targets to eradicate malnutrition by the end of 2015 to reach the Millennium Development Goal, thus, it launched the micronutrient supplementation especially to children and mothers in their productive age from 15 to 49 years old.
In Negros Occidental, 8 out 100 children are malnourished and in Western Visayas 61 out of 100 mothers are anemic, 44 out of 100 pregnant mothers are anemic while those children below five years old 29 out of 100 are anemic, Matti added.
This means that there is Vitamin A deficiency, IDA, and iron deficiency disorder among these children and mothers.
The Philippine Food Fortification Law of 2000 or the Republic Act 8976 calls for the mandatory fortification of staples such as rice, flour, cooking oil, and refined sugar, among other food. (JSC/EAD-PIA6 Negros Occidental)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=64346

POVERTY: Phillipines: Cash transfer initiative breaks cycle of poverty for families

Valentina Canavesio : PASAY CITY, Philippines, 29 June 2011 –

Despite much discussed economic growth in the Philippines before the global recession, more than 40 per cent of Filipino households live on less than $2 a day. To break the cycle of poverty, the Government has launched a five-year-long conditional cash transfer programme known as the ‘Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programme’ or ‘4Ps’.
It is a poverty reduction and social development strategy that provides conditional cash grants to the country’s poorest households in order to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly for children under the age of 14.
The 4Ps provides families with $140 a year per household for health and nutrition expenses and $70 per child for educational expenses – up to three children per household – as long as they comply with the conditions.

 © UNICEF video The cash transfer programme in the Philippines provides families with $140 a year per household for health and nutrition expenses, and $70 per child for educational expenses – up to three children per household.

“The six conditions of the programme are very much focused on children,” says UNICEF Representative in the Philippines Vanessa Tobin. “They focus on immunization of children, early child care and development, primary school attendance, de-worming, and on better parenting practices.” In addition, pregnant women must receive pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional.
Pasay City is one of the pilot areas for the programme. UNICEF is supporting the national and local governments in the programme’s implementation and monitoring.

Cash grants focus on children
Almeda Mantos, 35, is one of the beneficiaries of the programme. Her husband is an assistant mechanic and they have four children between the ages of 3 and 8. Before being selected for the programme, the whole family depended on her husband’s small salary.

 © UNICEF video The conditional cash transfer programme known as the ‘Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programme’ or ‘4Ps’is helping families improve health, education and nutrition in Pasay City, Philippines.

Now they are able to set money aside and the cash grant has enabled them to provide for their children better, making sure they have enough medicine, food and school items.
As a member of the Pasay community, Ms. Mantos has also been trained along with a group of local women to grow vegetables using hydroponics technology, which is the ability to grow plants without the use of soil. Instead plants grow in a bath or in highly oxygenated, nutrient-enriched water. This project aims to address the increasing number of poor families experiencing malnutrition and hunger, and to provide an additional source of income.
UNICEF has been complementing the 4Ps by training community leaders to hold regular meetings. Besides learning good parenting skills, beneficiaries also participate in sessions on livelihood and business skills, and financial literacy. The hope is for beneficiaries to develop saving habits and invest in sustainable business activities.
 © UNICEF video Local women in Pasay City, Philippines, have been trained to grow vegetables using water-based hydroponics technology in order to provide an additional source of income for their families.

Supporting small businesses
With the money they have saved and put in a common pool, Ms. Mantos and her peers have started their own small business selling rice. As the profits grow, they have plans to expand and sell cooked meat and snacks. Ms. Mantos can now foresee a brighter future for herself and her family.
For Ms. Tobin, this is exactly what the long-term goal of the UNICEF-supported project aims to achieve, enabling beneficiaries to break the cycle of poverty. “Our aim is to support that to obviously ensure that these children can directly benefit and then the next generation benefits immensely,” she says.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/philippines_59033.html

MALNUTRITION: Phillipines: backyard planting of malunggay

 Leyte -The local government here is pushing for backyard planting of moringa, a miracle plant to save the town’s population from the consequences of malnutrition.

Mayor Leonardo Javier said they have been encouraging people to plant and eat moringa (malunggay) as one of the most economical way to prevent malnutrition.
“Aside from encouraging households to cultivate this healthy plant, we will also formulate food mixed with moringa for feeding of children,” Javier told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
The local chief executive will adopt the public-private sector partnership to push through the initiative and other activities aimed at fighting malnutrition
“There’s a lot of organization that can be tapped but they have to see first from us that we are helping ourselves,” Javier added.
The official pointed out that they picked moringa for cultivation considering that each ounce of leaf contains seven times the Vitamin C found in oranges, four times the Vitamin A of carrots, three times the iron of spinach, four times as much calcium as milk and three times the potassium of bananas.
The 2010 Operation Timbang conducted in this town reveals that out of the 3,466 preschool children weighed, 747 of them or 21.55% are malnourished. The figure shows a moderate reduction from the 24.85% malnutrition prevalence a year ago.
National Nutrition Council Regional Program Coordinator Carina Santiago lauded the program of this town since moringa is loaded with vitamins, nutrients, and amino acids needed by children to ensure normal physical and mental development.
“We have been advocating that every household should plant malunggay and we are happy to hear that the local government of Javier is taking the lead on this,” she said in a phone interview.
The NNC suggested conducting demonstrations on how to cook moringa in such a way that it will be more attractive for children.
Planting a moringa tree is easy and fast. Even branches used as fence posts often take roots and grow into full-sized trees. Moringa branch cuttings will root without much care, but they grow best planted at the start of the rainy season or another time when the weather is mild. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)
http://leytesamardaily.net/2011/06/javier-lgu-pushing-backyard-planting-of-malunggay/

POVERTY: Phillipines: Is it really poverty that drives Filipinos overseas?

Susan K June 5th, 2011
Are overseas Filipino workers (OFW) being driven out of the country by poverty? Or is it just the latest opportunity and trend?
Over the years, poverty has been the common reason cited for the exodus of Filipinos out of the country: to “find work and sustain their needs as well as that of their families.”
Is this true? In recent years quite a number of studies have thrown more light on the matter.
Dr. Clement Camposano, a senior instructor and migration anthropologist from the University of Asia and the Pacific, said studies have shown that “although many countries are experiencing destitution, poverty is merely one of the factors and not the root cause of Filipino migration.”
He said that based on studies, those who work abroad are not all poor, or at least not the poorest of the poor. It takes a lot of money to prepare for overseas work.
Many OFWs are duped into forking over huge sums of money by recruiters. Many reach foreign lands heavily in debt.
In a way, OFWs are gamblers and risk-takers. They are drawn by the huge wage differential between local and foreign paychecks. They invest heavily to leave the country. They secure monies for placement and other processing fees to realize their dreams. They don’t give up easily, even though, at times, they fall prey to some illegal recruiters.
With all the monies that are tossed and spun in the process of migration, can we really say that our kababayan who search for so-called “greener pastures” are really the underprivileged?
Take the case of OFW Feliza Ibamit from Victoria, Laguna who appealed for help from Bantay OCW on August 18, 2010. She paid P270,000 as placement fee to recruiter Maria Novie Belludo who promised her employment in Italy. She waited for three years but was not deployed. After losing so much time following up her overseas placement, she sought assistance from Bantay OCW to get back her money.
Bantay OCW coordinated with the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). It was reported that Beludo was in Rome at that time. Ibamit then filed a case against Beludo at the Regional Trial Court in Victoria, Laguna. After a series of hearings, Belludo’s sister, Maria Role Belludo, returned the full amount to Ibamit last December 23, 2010.
Regrettably, Ibamit signed a quit claim to withdraw any further case against the illegal recruiter and her sister.
Last March 5, 2011, Ibamit visited Radyo Inquirer to personally express her gratefulness to the program for the return of her money. She said she would use the money instead to support the education of her nieces and nephews.
According to Dr. Camposano, “whether we accept it or not, migration is innate to human beings… who are influenced by various cultures and their yearnings to discover those cultures by themselves.” Filipinos are preferred by many foreign employers. Aside from their diligence and passion for work, they have good fluency in both written and spoken English language.
Poverty is not the ultimate reason why they become OFWs. Going abroad is a personal decision. No one can force anyone to work abroad if there is no desire to do so.
Sad to say, some of our kababayan depart from the country although they are unskilled and ill-prepared. Some end up feeding themselves to the (loan) sharks, burying themselves in debt, drowning themselves in miseries, and living with loneliness.
Not all OFWs are driven by poverty. Some just want to be part of the latest trend. We all need to be better informed of the real situation abroad and what it really takes to benefit most from the OFW experience.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/3310/is-it-really-poverty-that-drives-filipinos-overseas

POVERTY: Phillipines: Poverty alleviation still main goal of MDC

 May 28, 2011

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The poverty-alleviation program of the government of President Benigno Aquino III will get its needed boost now that the 434-million-US-dollar grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the United States is being implemented.
Three major projects under the MCC grant would demonstrate the joint commitment of the United States and Philippines in fighting poverty in the country, Philippine Finance Secretary and Millennium Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) Vice Chairman Cesar V. Purisima and MCA-P Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ma. Victoria E. Anonuevo said in a press statement released on Thursday.
Purisima and MCC CEO Daniel Yohannes signed the Compact, which contains the US grant, on Sept. 23, 2010 in New York. President Aquino III who was on a state visit to the United States at that time and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have witnessed the signing of the Compact.
During the signing, President Aquino III assured the donor country that his administration would handle the funds with utmost care. "I am here to assure you that the Philippines is committed to good housekeeping practices in its domestic and international dealings with investors," Aquino said.
Aquino also said that his administration is committed "not just to a fair, but a square, deal for all. We will not abandon the poor to the markets just as we will not distort markets by means of red tape or crony impositions." The implementation of the Compact, which will run for five years, followed the completion by the Philippine government, through MCA-P, of project preparation and documentation involving the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Compact implementing entities, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the DOF's Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS).
Secretary Purisima said that the implementation of the MCC " shows the Aquino administration's strong resolve to undertake infrastructure projects that promote sustainable economic growth and help reduce poverty across all regions of the country in the soonest time possible."
Purisima expressed appreciation to the US government and the American people for extending the grant and "for being partners of the Philippines and the Filipinos in our fight against poverty."
He even said that if the project is properly implemented to the satisfaction of the US, after five years the Philippine could request another MCC grant.
The 434-million-US-dollar MCC Compact provides funding for three major projects in the Philippines. First, it provides 214.4 million dollars to construct and repair 220-kilometer Samar Road, in one of the country's poorest provinces.
The Samar Road, which passes through 15 municipalities, will improve access to markets and services for farmers, fishers, and small businesses in Samar and neighboring provinces.
The Compact also includes 120 million dollars to expand the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Linking Arms Against Poverty)- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services or Kalahi- CIDSS, a development project that empowers communities by encouraging their participation in poverty reducing activities.
The project will provide community grants to support the building of critical infrastructure such as water systems, clinics, and schools. This innovative project design strengthens local accountability and allows poor communities to effectively design and transparently manage the projects they need to increase their incomes and improve their lives.
Along with the Aquino administration's conditional cash transfer program, which has a budget of 22 billion peso, or 505.7 million dollars, this year, the Kalahi-CIDSS program is expected to alleviate the conditions of the country's poor and marginalized sector.
The third component of the program is the 54.3 million dollars in investments to computerize and streamline business processes in the Bureau of Internal Revenue. This project will bolster the effectiveness of revenue collection and reduce opportunities for corruption.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=690788&publicationSubCategoryId=200

POVERTY: Phillipines: Remittances saved up to 3 million from poverty

Cai U. Ordinario, 05/04/2011

MANILA, Philippines - If the Philippine economy did not receive remittances from overseas Filipinos, around 2 million to 3 million more Filipinos would have fallen below the poverty line.
In a presentation at a multistakeholder forum on Channeling Collective Remittances for Development, Ernesto Pernia, a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said remittances were able to reduce the country’s poverty incidence by 3 to 4 percentage points, which translates to around 2 million to 3 million Filipinos.
The reduction in the number of poor Filipinos would have been higher, Pernia said, if not for the “inequality” effect that was observed among households receiving remittances. Usually, he said, richer households get the bulk of overseas remittances every year.
“Most OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] originate in the Philippines’ more developed regions [and] smaller shares [come] from poorer regions. Likewise, the bulk of remittances go to the richer regions [and] smaller shares [go] to the less-developed regions. Hence, richer regions develop faster than poorer ones, worsening regional imbalance or inequality,” Pernia explained.
As such, to better take advantage of these remittances and broaden the base of economic growth in the Philippines, Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said there is a need to set up a roadmap for the utilization of these funds, which can be drafted by various stakeholders like government agencies, the academe, civil society and even financial institutions, like banks.
In the same forum, Tetangco said a roadmap would help increase the number of OFW families who are not only saving but are investing their remittances. This, Tetangco said, will have long-term impacts not only for OFW households but for the economy as well.
“If economic growth is coming from a bigger number of sectors or agents or bigger number of players, that will make it more broad-based and [make] the economy less susceptible to external shocks,” Tetangco said.
Apart from the roadmap, Pernia also said there is a need to diversify the skills of OFWs to bring in more remittances. He said admittedly, OFW skills are similar with Philippine merchandise exports in the sense that these are still low-paying.
Based on 2006 data, Pernia said the bulk of OFWs, or around 144,321, are still engaged in service provision-related jobs abroad. Filipinos engaged in high-paying professional or technical jobs abroad number only reached 41,258.
“[We need to] move away from exporting low-priced labor toward more sophisticated or higher technical-skill manpower—similar to shifting from raw materials exports toward high-value products,” Pernia said.
Other changes or improvements include obtaining quality data that can be used by policymakers in crafting better programs to help uplift or improve the lives of OFWs and their families.
Based on Pernia’s findings, as much as 50 percent of international remittances are sent to the three richest regions in the country. The National Capital Region (NCR), the country’s richest region, accounts for 18 percent to 27 percent of total remittances from 1995 to 2004.
The other regions are Southern Tagalog, which accounts for 18 percent to 22 percent, and Central Luzon, which accounts for 12 percent to 15 percent of total remittances between 1995 and 2004.
Pernia explained that households belonging to the poorest quintile get the lowest share, or around 5 percent of international remittances, while 40 percent goes to households from the richest quintile.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/05/03/11/remittances-saved-2-3m-pinoys-poverty

TUBERCULOSIS: Phillipines: Tuberculosis disease no longer among the ten leading causes of death in Southern Leyte

March 31, 2011:  ES Gorne

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, Mar 31 (PIA) - Former IPHO Technical Department Chief Dr. Zenaida Abiera, who is now the Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) Co-Chairperson of the Public-Private Mix Directly Observed Treatment Short –Course Chemotherapy (PPMD-DOTS) congratulated Southern Leyte since tuberculosis (TB) is no longer among the top ten leading cause of death in the province but still the fight against TB continues.
In 2009, TB ranks seventh in the top leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the province of Southern Leyte, Dr. Abiera revealed during the DySL Kapihan sa PIA , Wednesday at PIA Southern Leyte Provincial Office , however, this year the province no longer identifies the said disease among the top ten leading cause of death in the locality.
She noted the trend in TB prevalence in the province from 1990 recorded reduction from 38.2 to 31 per hundred thousand in 1995.
She added that the commitment of the provincial government in the fight against TB is worth commending as she once was among the technical experts working on the health problems in the province.
Abiera said however, the province still continues to fight for a “TB free” Southern Leyte in line with the vision of the country where the province joins in a joint collaboration and cooperation for both public and private sector to fight TB.
That Southern Leyte is among the provinces –recipient of the Philippine Coalition Against Tuberculosis (PhilCAT) through a grant by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in close coordination with Department of Health (DOH) in the installation of service delivery units and coordinating structure of PPMD-DOTS, Abiera added.
She also disclosed that the PHilCAT-PCC in Southern Leyte through Provincial Health Officer II, Chief of Hospital Dr. Joselito Trumata, who is also the PCC- Chairman will spearhead an advocacy symposium for Public –Private Mix in TB Care and Control on April 6, 2011 at Kuting Reef Resort and Spa in Macrohon, Southern Leyte to orient and enlighten a multi-sectoral audience about the global, national and local TB burden through the PPMD- DOTS approach in TB control to realize the vision of a “TB Free” Philippines.
The program aims to engage the private sector in the care and control of TB in the province, she added.### (PIA Southern Leyte/esg)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=25301

MALNUTRITION: Phillipines: Iron fortified rice

by ES Gorne


SOUTHERN LEYTE, Mar 16 (PIA) - The Department of Health (DOH) felt relieved with the onset of iron fortified rice program as it brings solution among the much needed micronutrients that are essential to growth, health, and wellness of all, especially the children and women.
DOH Provincial Health Officer I Dr. Noel Lumen, head of the Technical Department at Salvacion Oppus Yniguez Memorial Provincial Hospital (SOYMPH) said malnutrition is still among the top ranking health concerns especially the micronutrients deficiency which are prevalent in the province during the nationwide launching of the i-Rice spearheaded by the National Food Authority (NFA) Tuesday, March 15 at Maasin City.
“ Filipinos are rice eaters while one of the nutritional disorders among Filipinos is iron deficiency which can best be addressed by fortifying rice with iron,” he added.
He said the national government is spearheading the Food Fortification Law or RA 8976 which calls for the mandatory fortification of micronutrients namely, Vitamin A, Iodine, Iron or Zinc to the staple.
He further said the Iodine deficiency is now responded with the fortification of said micronutrient in the salt commodity and most Sangkap Pinoy products are now fortified with Vitamin A, which all are readily available in the market.
What is most important is that the remedy to the iron deficiency problem in the country provided by the government comes at a low cost as one kilo of the I-rice is priced at P27, it was learned.
Among the activities during the launching, a declaration of commitment was solicited among the government implementers to help promote i-Rice which will hopefully address iron deficiency and implement pursuant to the law, rice industry players to help promote and sell I-Rice and for consumers to patronize and help promote i-Rice consumption.
Then it was followed with taste test of champorado, pospas with chicken meat and fried rice with bagoong, all made from i-Rice were tasted by the same group.
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=22581

MALNUTRTION: Genetically Modified eggplant trials suspended in Philippines

Ma. Theresa V. Ilano test: 13 January 2011
 Workers uproot and bury experimental Bt eggplant: UP Mindanao/Rene Estremera

[CEBU, PHILIPPINES] Field trials of genetically modified (GM) eggplant have been suspended following a dispute at one of the trial sites that led local officials to uproot 3,000 plants.
Two of seven field trials of the plant — also known as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) brinjal — were halted last month (29 December), two weeks after local authorities in Davao City uprooted plants because researchers had not fully complied with public consultation requirements.
Scientists had been hoping to complete the seven trials by the end of this year and commercialise Bt eggplant next year.
But research has now been delayed by at least six months, according to Eufemio Rasco Jr, lead researcher at the University of the Philippines Mindanao.
In the first incident, on 17 December, Sara Duterte-Carpio, Davao City Mayor, issued a cease-and-desist order to the university, and ordered the destruction of the plants, because scientists had failed to post a public information sheet about the trials at the City Hall, breaking rules governing the release of GM crops into the environment.
The Bureau of Plant Industry — the government agency that regulates GM field trials — then suspended the trial along with another one at Visayas State University, which had also failed fully to comply.
Merle Palacpac, chair of the bureau's Biotech Core Team, said the permit for both trials could be reinstated once all requirements were met.
Last-ditch efforts by the researchers and the bureau to prevent the uprooting failed.
Leonardo Avila III, Davao City agriculturist, said the researchers had ignored concerns raised by locals since September and had failed to reply to a letter from the mayor, supported by a resolution passed by the Davao City council in October, requesting that the trials meet stricter standards of confinement.
"We are not anti-GM. The problem is transparency. We just want to know what's happening. The Local Government Code clearly states that they should consult and explain the project to us," Avila said.
But Rasco said that his researchers have "clarified all issues directly and indirectly, in newspapers and public forums," and have tried to educate the public through two seminars on the risks and benefits of Bt eggplant.
"It was unjust," said Rasco. "The moral equivalent is putting a jaywalker before a firing squad. We were punished for a flimsy reason."
The university said it had "not violated any requirements that would impact on biosafety and public health". There was no danger of cross-pollination because the eggplant is a self-pollinated crop.
The Philippines was the first country in Asia to commercialise a GM crop — Bt corn — for food and animal feed. Bt eggplant was to be its second GM crop.
There is growing resistance to Bt eggplant in a city where an organic agriculture ordinance is in effect, and there is a strong anti-GM movement led by Greenpeace and local non-governmental organisation Go Organic Mindanao.
Bruce Chassy, associate director of the Biotechnology Center at the University of Illinois, United States, said he believes that anti-GM advocates may have poured their resources into the Philippines "because they fear the model the Philippines has set up may spread like a cancer and infect countries that now reject or are uncertain about GM crops.
"The Philippines has been a beacon of scientific enlightenment in a vast sea of darkness with regards to sound, science-based policies about agricultural biotechnology and GM crops. This poses an enormous threat to the movement against GM," he said.
India banned the planting of Bt eggplant last year, until the public and scientists are convinced of its safety, a fact that is often cited in other countries' anti-GM campaigns.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/gm-eggplant-trials-suspended-in-philippines.html

POVERTY: A much ignored strategy for reducing poverty?

By Dr. Rolando T. Dy, Executive Director Center for Food and Agri Business
The Philippine Star: January 16, 2011

MANILA, Philippines – Tree-crops have played a key role in the development of agriculture and poverty reduction in many ASEAN countries. (I can attest to this as an agricultural project economist in Malaysia in the late 1970s and early 1980s).
Let’s compare the achievements of these countries in the past three decades in tree crop development. Specifically, this involves area harvested, production and export. Let’s also discuss the possible impact on poverty reduction and the key success factors.
The ASEAN countries are key players in the global market for tree-crops: palm oil, rubber, coffee, cacao, coconut, and cashew.
• Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in that order are the world’s largest producers of palm oil; the first two control some 90 percent of the world’s exports.
• Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam control most of the rubber exports.
• Vietnam ranks second in the world in coffee production and exports. Indonesia is fourth.
• Indonesia is among the top cocoa exporters.
• Indonesia and the Philippines are the top producers of coconut while the latter is the top exporter of coconut oil.
• Vietnam is the world’s leading cashew exporter.

Area expansion
Tree-crops harvested areas in Indonesia expanded 3.1-fold to 13.1 million hectares during 1980-2008, Malaysia 1.9 times, Thailand 1.7 times, and Vietnam 9.7 times. By contrast, the Philippines had its areas expanded less than 1.1 times.
Production expanded faster because of an increase in productivity, particularly oil palm in Indonesia, rubber in Thailand, and coffee and cashew in Vietnam. The Philippines was heavily dragged down by lack of progress in coconut replanting and fertilization.
Exports
Total exports expanded 13-fold in Indonesia to $22.8 billion in 2008, five in Malaysia to $17.2 billion, 12 in Thailand to $7.3 billion, and 74 in Vietnam to $2.4 billion from 1980. Meanwhile, Philippine exports moved up only 1.6 times to $1.1 billion.
During the past three decades from 1980, the ASEAN countries – particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – were game changers in the world of tree-crops. They collectively captured market shares from the rest of the world to ASEAN.
In 1980, ASEAN controlled 63 percent of the world exports of palm oil and this jumped to 87 percent in 2008. For coffee, market shares rose from seven percent to 24 percent while cacao beans from three percent to 14 percent. For cashew, ASEAN market share dramatically expanded from two percent to 20 percent.

These successes can be attributed to four countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Country analysis
Indonesia. The tree-crop drivers were: palm oil, rubber, and cocoa. It is now the world’s leading palm oil producer/exporter, and the world’s second largest rubber producer after Thailand. The main achievements were:
• Oil palm harvested areas skyrocketed to five million hectares in 2008 from only 204,000 hectares in 1980. In fact, if immature areas were counted, there were seven million hectares planted in 2008.
• Rubber areas rose to 2.9 million hectares from 1.6 million hectares in the same period.
• Cocoa areas shot up to 990,000 hectares from 19,000 hectares.
• Coffee areas increased to 977,000 hectares from 498,000 hectares.
Malaysia has been a tree-crops country for many years. It was the world’s largest palm oil producer until it was surpassed by Indonesia in 2005. In a similar vein, it was also the world’s largest natural rubber producer until overtaken by Thailand in 1985. The shift from rubber to oil palm was due to higher labor costs and better farm profits while the slowdown in oil palm expansion was limited by land. Thus, Malaysian firms, like Sime Darby, expanded into Indonesia.
• Harvested areas of oil palm grew to 3.9 million hectares in 2008 from 777,000 hectares in 1980. A large part of these are in Sabah and Sarawak.
• By contrast, rubber areas declined to 1.2 million hectares from 1.6 million hectares in the same period.
Thailand. The main drivers of growth were palm oil and rubber. Thailand is the third largest palm oil producer after Indonesia and Malaysia, and the biggest producer/exporter of natural rubber.
• Oil palm harvested areas rose to 462,000 hectares in 2008 from only 11,000 hectares in 1980.
• Rubber areas expanded to 1.8 million hectares from 1.2 million hectares. The high production was driven by higher farm yield.
Vietnam provides an outstanding example of tree-crop development. From negligible exports in 1980, it expanded to $2.4 billion in 2008. The leading drivers were coffee, cashew and rubber. The country posted dramatic changes since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Among the highlights are:
• Expansion of rubber harvested areas to 632,000 hectares in 2008 from only 88,000 hectares in 1908.
• Massive increases in areas to 531,000 hectares from 33,000 hectares during the same period
• Explosive growth of cashew areas to 403,000 hectares from 8,000 hectares in the same period.
Philippines. Where is the Philippines in the picture? It failed in many respects. Despite its natural endowments for tree-crops, the country has less than 300,000 hectares over 30 years as compared to millions of hectares by its more dynamic neighbors.
• Oil palm harvested areas grew to only 22,000 hectares in 2008 from 6,000 hectares in 1980, despite large potentials in Mindanao and Palawan.
• Rubber areas expanded to 123,000 hectares from 54,000 hectares in the same period (although the author doubts the figures). Compare this with experts’ estimate of the potential of at least 500,000 hectares.
• Coffee areas grew to123,000 hectares from 102,000 hectares in the same period. While the areas grew, many are senile and unproductive.
• Coconut areas, the largest of all, increased to 3.4 million hectares in 2008 from 3.2 million hectares in 1980, or a gain of only 144,000 hectares! Given that over one million hectares are senile, this is not a major movement.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=648446&publicationSubCategoryId=77

Nazarene throngs sign of rising poverty–prelate

By Jocelyn R. Uy: Philippine Daily Inquirer: 01/11/2011
MANILA, Philippines—Sunday’s Black Nazarene procession thronged by millions is a signal to the government that an increasing number of Filipinos are seeking divine intervention to lift them from worsening poverty, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said Monday.
Cruz said over Church-run Radio Veritas that the growing number of devotees of the dark-skinned Christ, which was introduced to Filipinos in the early 17th century, was a manifestation of the depressing plight of the common folk.
“That is one of the most significant messages of the devotion to the Black Nazarene,” he said, “that more Filipinos are clinging to God as their last hope because of the worsening poverty in the country.”
Last year, about six million devotees joined the festivities, according to police estimates.
On Sunday, the National Capital Region Police Office pegged the number of participants at between 7 and 7.5 million. Most of the devotees wore maroon and gold shirts and were barefoot during the procession that began early in the morning and ended past midnight under intermittent rain.
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) listed 708 injuries from the fanatical demonstration of faith, which was triple the number of cases registered last year.
Those taken to first-aid stations set up along the procession route suffered foot lacerations, head injuries, high blood pressure, headache, dizziness, exhaustion and epilepsy, said Gwendolyn Pang, PRC secretary general.
The participants jostled through the thick and frantic crowd for a touch or a kiss of the image or the cross the Christ bears in the hope their appeals and prayers would be answered.
Many join the festivities in thanksgiving but most of the devotees also ask for blessings—like food every day, a high-paying job or healing of an illness.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20110111-313771/Nazarene-throngs-sign-of-rising-povertyprelate

MALNUTRITION: Phillipiones: DOST promotes brown rice

Helen M. Flores January 09, 2011 MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is promoting the use of brown rice as part of the agency’s efforts to address malnutrition in the country.
“We propose a shift in our preference from white rice to brown rice,” said Science Secretary Mario Montejo.
“We will fortify brown rice with vitamins, minerals and other essential micronutrients,” he said.
According to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), brown rice is a good source of dietary fiber, magnesium, lysine, and protein.
It is believed to be more nutritious than white rice because when rice is polished, a significant amount (68 percent to 90 percent) of calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin, and thiamine are removed, the agency said.
It said protein content is also reduced by 15 percent when the bran layers are removed.
Brown and white rice contain similar amounts of calories, carbohydrates and protein, fatty acids and fiber.
Meanwhile, Montejo said the DOST will also develop ways to expand the shelf life of brown rice which is shorter than that of white rice.
“The DOST is now developing a process and we expect it to be completed this year,” Montejo said.
Montejo said because of the low demand, brown rice is currently more expensive than white rice.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=646375&publicationSubCategoryId=77

POVERTY: Phillipines: Conditional cash transfer - empowering poor families

 January 05, 2011 SAN JOSE, Antique, Jan. 5 (PIA) -- The grant of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) is a big help to poor families especially in fighting malnutrition, meeting the educational needs of children, increased awareness on health and sanitation and enhanced participation of families in community activities.
Breccio M. Ostan, Jr., Municipal Link in the town of Bugasong, one of the towns which availed of the CCT, said that the prevalence of malnutrition has significantly been reduced from 799 in 2008 to only 474 in 2010 with a reduction of 325 underweight children.
This brought the ranking of the town from No. 7 in 2008 to No. 16 in 2010 out of 18 municipalities in terms of the prevalence of malnutrition among children.
There is also a marked increase in pre-school enrollment from 846 in 2008 to 1,174 in 2010 or increase of 27.94% and 12% increase in enrollment of elementary school from 4,783 to 5,463 in 2010, all in the municipality of Bugasong.
Enrollment in Day Care centers has also remarkably increased from 1,164 in 2008 to 1,455 in 2009 or an increase of about 20%.
Improvement in terms of health and nutrition, education and community participation are among the conditions the beneficiaries should comply with to continuously avail of the support from the CCT also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
CCT is a flagship program of the national government on poverty reduction and social development. It provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly children aged 0-14.
It also believes in investing in human capital to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty among poor households.
The Municipality of Bugasong is one among the five towns in the Province of Antique that availed of 4Ps covering 27 barangays and 2,236 beneficiaries where the government has released the amount of P12,527,500.00 in 2010.
Other towns include Barbaza with 39 barangays, 1,520 beneficiaries and has received the total amount of 9,437,600 in 2010.
The Municipality of Laua-an has 1,992 beneficiaries in 40 barangays with the total release of P11,837,900, in 2010.
The town of Valderrama has also availed of the P5,577,200.00 cash grant given to 1,749 beneficiaries from 20 barangays and the Municipality of San Remigio has 3,068 beneficiaries from 45 barangays which has received P7,741,000.00 during its last quarter release.
Lazaro Petinglay Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer in an interview said, with the cash grants now in full swing, we expect the beneficiaries to move on with the compliance to the conditions of the program and at the same time empower themselves to become self reliant and partners in community development.The Provincial Government under the leadership of Governor Exequiel B. Javier is very supportive of the program. The Governor has issued an Executive Order creating the Provincial Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Advisory Committee to ensure the smooth implementation of the program, said Petinglay.
Due to the laudable implementation of the program, Petinglay noted that DSWD has already approved the expansion of seven other towns in the province this year to help thousands of poor families deserving of government assistance.
The expansion program will carry on the convergence strategy where the flagship program of DSWD such as SEAK-K, KALAHI-CIDSS, OBAMA and 4Ps will be implemented.
Petinglay expressed gratitude to President Benigno S. Aquino III in behalf of the Antiqueños particularly the beneficiaries, for the grants they received will go a long way in alleviating their conditions and eventually mobilize and empower communities to become self-reliant. (PIA/psm)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=10198

Global Fund - timely oversight or trigger happy

Bill Brieger : 26 Dec 2010

In the past year the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) has suspended grants in Mauritania, The Philippines, Zambia, and Mali. In fact one grant to Mali was terminated. Efforts to identify high risk grants are underway.
Some are saying that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of GFATM is finally showing some teeth, while others worry that actions to suspend and terminate will harm the very persons that the Global Fund was set up to help. At the recent 22nd GFATM Board Meeting the Executive Director provided the following comments based on OIG work:
Based on recent OIG findings in a number of countries, activities involving cash transfers for training events and associated costs, including per diems, travel, meal and expense payments, are in many cases posing a high risk of misuse
The OIG has identified five countries where measures to protect Global Fund-financed drug shipments from theft need to be implemented
The Secretariat and OIG agree that LFAs have not been sufficiently focused on the identification of fraud risks and actual fraud in Global Fund-financed programs, and may not currently have the capacity to address these risks
Prior to the recent Board meeting, one wonders whether the communication between the Secretariat, the Executive Director and the Office of the Inspector General were clear and efficient. A 6th December 2010 memo entitled “Joint communication on Inspector General matters” mentioned that, “The Inspector General and the Executive Director of the Global Fund have initiated sincere effort towards collaboration to follow up on recent findings by the Inspector General as well as to take steps to permanently strengthen grant oversight.”
The memo concluded that, “The Global Fund, by nature of its mandate, sometimes has to work with entities with weak programmatic and financial capacity, and to operate in environments where there may be a paucity of financial controls and lack of oversight systems. The Global Fund’s risk management systems are constantly improving. Recently discovered fraud has made the Secretariat determined to redouble its efforts to improve these systems.”
In some cases of suspended grants the Global Fund is looking for alternative Principal Recipients to manage the funds or find alternatives to ensure services to those in need do not cease to be served. The concern about the Local Fund Agents is valid since the Global Fund, unlike other international agencies, does not have country offices or provide technical assistance.
Several years ago I worked with a team in Nigeria to design and deliver adolescent and youth peer education on reproductive health through community based organizations (CBOs). The initial effort focused on how to organize and train peer educators and the technical aspects of reproductive health. Eventually it became obvious when one CBO leader was using her personal bank account to keep project funds that the local CBOs needed as much technical assistance in establishing and maintaining proper financial and accounting procedures as they did in organizing peer based reproductive health education.
The Global Fund operates in a scale thousands of times larger that our small peer education projects, but the basic principle remains. Don’t condemn local organizations for poor financial performance if you did not try to help them develop better financial and accountability procedures in the first place.
Currently 22% of grants are considered to be poor performers. Too much is at stake in reaching 2015 and beyond to simply say to poor performers, “sorry, your funds are suspended.”
http://www.malariafreefuture.org/blog/?p=1135

POVERTY: PHILIPPINES: Family planning "urgently needed"

  Photo: Ana Santos/IRIN:  A 16-year-old sits beside her newborn baby. This is her second child.

2 December 2010 (IRIN) - Population and sustainable development experts warn that the Philippine population could reach levels that will prevent the country from ever breaking free from a cycle of poverty.
"We need to lower birth rates to 2.2 percent, which is just the sustainable replacement rate," Malcolm Potts from the Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability, told IRIN, warning that at current fertility rates of 3.03 percent, the Philippine population of 94 million could reach 150 million in just 10 years.
Citing Department of Health studies indicating that women in the poorest quintile have 5.9 children while those in the richest quintile have 1.9 children, Potts said, "It's very simple; poor people cannot separate sex from child-bearing. We must give the poor access to family planning and contraception to give them choices."
The Guttmacher Institute, a US-based reproductive health think-tank, released a study in 2009 showing that 35 percent of poor Filipino women aged 15-49 accounted for 53 percent of the unmet need for contraception.
Highest unemployment rate
The Philippines has the highest unemployment rate in the Southeast Asian region at 8 percent compared with Indonesia at 7.9 percent, Vietnam at 4.6 percent, Malaysia at 3.7 percent and Thailand at 1.5 percent.
According to the World Bank, poverty incidence rose from 30 percent in 2003 to 32.9 percent in 2006.
"Having fewer children will allow the poor to invest more in education and health for their children to improve their lives when they grow up," Ernesto Pernia, a professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics said, citing the correlation between family size and poverty incidence.
Urgent need for legislation
There is no national legislation on the standardization of budgets for family planning and reproductive healthcare services for the poor.
The Reproductive Health Bill aims to address this by providing a full range of contraceptive options, including the pill and condoms, as well as natural birth-control methods.
However, the bill is staunchly opposed by the influential Catholic Church that only approves of natural family planning methods requiring periodic abstinence.
The Bill has been wildly debated for the past 15 years.
"Natural family planning, also known as the rhythm method, has never played a role in fertility decline in any country, whether Catholic or not," Potts said.
Martha Campbell, president of Ventures Strategies for Health and Development, which studies reproductive healthcare strategies for developing countries said, "Other Catholic countries like Mexico and Brazil have already decided that the Vatican doesn't need to step into their reproductive lives. The Philippines is the only remaining country where the Catholic Church has a stranglehold on women's health."
"Population growth is a public welfare issue that affects the poorest of the poor. Other poverty containment efforts will never be sufficient until we can curb population growth," said Congresswoman Kaka Bag-ao of the Akbayan Citizen's Action Party, which is pushing for the passage of the Bill.
On 8 December, the UN Population Fund and the International Council on Management of Population Programmes (ICOMP) will hold a regional consultation on family planning in Bangkok.
The goal of the three-day meeting is to gain support from governments and civil societies to prioritize family planning programmes and increase investments in family planning to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and particularly, universal access to reproductive health.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91261

POVERTY: World poverty seen falling sharply but patchily

 TERESA CEROJANO (AP) – Sep 16, 2010

MANILA, Philippines — It is lunchtime, but the cooking pots are empty outside Nurain Dimalao's shack. Her 7-year-old son plays amid the flies in garbage-strewn sand. She worries where his next meal will come from.






Baseco Compound, a shantytown of 50,000 people on the edge of Manila Bay, is the familiar face of poverty in villages and urban slums around the world. Yet there's also good news, albeit qualified: Worldwide, the poor are getting less poor, although not everywhere.

The share of the population of developing regions whose people live in extreme poverty is expected to fall to 15 percent by 2015, down from 46 percent in 1990, according to the United Nations. The gains stem largely from robust economic growth in countries such as China and India, the world's two most populous countries.

Ten years ago, the United Nations set eight "Millennium Development Goals" to tackle the world's most pressing humanitarian problems by halving rates of affliction in such areas as disease, poverty and lack of basic education by 2015, compared with 1990.

As leaders will hear next week at a U.N. summit in New York, the overall success in cutting extreme poverty is patchy from region to region. According to the World Bank, much of Asia already has met or is on its way to meeting the goal, and Latin America is on track to more than halve its rate from 11 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 2015; sub-Saharan Africa is likely to fall short at a projected 38 percent. It was 58 percent in 1990.

In China, whose economy this year officially surpassed Japan's as the world's second largest, the number living below the international poverty line fell from 60.2 percent in 1990 to 15.9 percent in 2005. By 2015, it is forecast to be 5 percent.

By a U.N. measure of living on less than $1.25 a day, some 254 million Chinese remain in extreme poverty. The Chinese government uses a poverty line of $190 in annual income, or about 52 cents a day, and 40 million Chinese fall below that. Those bedrock poor are mostly farmers and nomads, mainly from minority ethnic groups in remote areas.

Farmers in central China's Funiu mountains were among the poorest just a few years ago. In Chongdugou village, families wove bamboo mats to peddle for food.

Change came as it did to many villages in China — through an idea and a road. A local official thought the area's forested mountains and waterfalls could draw tourists, so he drummed up funding to pave the dirt track that was the sole path in and out of Chongdugou. Today almost all the village's 350-plus families are involved in tourism.
In the 1990s, "people could only feed themselves, and some even starved. Children could not afford to go to school, and many could not even finish primary school," said Liu Jiandang, a 41-year-old former farmer. "Now, we've got paved roads, new houses, phones and vehicles. I run a hotel that can host 20 to 30 tourists and some rooms have TV sets, air conditioners, hot water and bathrooms."

With her profits topping 50,000 yuan ($7,000) a year, Liu can afford to send her 19-year-old son to vocational college and her 10-year-old daughter to primary school. "Our lives are so much better than before," she said.

India has not been as successful, but the United Nations says it is nonetheless on track to cut its poverty rate from 51 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 2015. India's economy grew 8.8 percent in the second quarter of this year.

"The growth within India has been outstanding," said Caitlin Wiesen, the India country director for the U.N. Development Program. But as in most places, the prosperity is not shared evenly. "Growth needs to be job-rich and also needs to focus on agricultural productivity and production," she said.

Even if the poor comprise only 15 percent of the developing world's population by 2015, as the United Nations projects, that would still leave 920 million people in extreme poverty.

Dimalao, in the Manila slum, may well be one of them.

Twenty years ago she left her home in the impoverished southern Philippines, tired of hardship and being caught in the war between government troops and Muslim rebels.

In Manila she hoped to get a job as a maid in Saudi Arabia and join the 10 percent of Filipinos who work abroad. But without money for the high fees charged by recruitment agencies, she ended up as a vendor until she quit to take care of her two children.

Her husband, a security guard, drops by occasionally and sometimes hands her 500 pesos ($10), but he has not been paid in full in the last seven months. He too wanted to work abroad, but a job recruiter ran off with his money.

"I sometimes think of going back to work as a vendor, but I have no capital," said Dimalao, now 40. "I would like to be able to provide for my children, but I also can't work because no one will look after them."

Their situation worsened in January, when a fire razed their neighborhood. They now live in a leaky plywood-and-tarpaulin shack, vulnerable to typhoons.

The Philippines issued a progress report this month that lowered its chances of meeting three out of four poverty-related goals by 2015.

The report said 32.6 percent of Filipinos were below the poverty line in 2006, and suggested the Philippines could miss the U.N. goal for 2015, but saw a "high probability" of halving the proportion who cannot afford to buy the food they need.

The government blamed rising food and oil prices, slower income growth and faster population growth and warned that bleaker times may lie ahead.

Jacqueline Badcock, the U.N. resident representative in the Philippines, said she was disappointed with the country's slide in progress. Natural disasters such as typhoons and floods also have cut gains, she said.

U.N. officials point out that some nearby countries, such as Thailand, which has tempered its population growth, increased economic output and reduced poverty rates, already are setting bolder targets above the Millennium Development Goals.

In India, the government runs a massive social welfare program that guarantees all rural families 100 days of work a year at a wage of 100 rupees (about $2) a day.

In the village of Suwana in Rajasthan state, Vimla Sharma said her family scraped by on her husband's meager earnings from working at a temple before she signed up for the work program two years ago.

The extra money has allowed her to add a room and a kitchen to her house and send her teenage daughter to school.

"Before, we wore torn and tattered clothes," she said. The program "has made it possible for us to take care of our household needs."

She only wishes the program could be extended. "There are 100 days of work in a year," she said. "Once these 100 days are over, what will the women do?"

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-QfUaGIeTUeo7bmKnbGv0j17ZRAD9I8V4I82

POVERTY: Philippines: poverty increasing among children

17 September 2010 (IRIN) - A new study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) [ ] and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), estimates that 12.8 million children under the age of 15 are living in poverty, an increase of one million over a three-year period. "Forty-four percent of all Filipino children are living in poverty and also suffer from other dimensions of poverty like deprivations of food, shelter, health and education," Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF country representative, told IRIN. Released on 16 September, but based on data compiled from 2003 to 2006, the key findings of the study demonstrate clear trends across the country, with 9.2 million of the 12.8 million children living in rural areas. According to the study, 5.4 million children were deprived of at least one of the three dimensions of well-being - shelter, sanitation, and water - in 2006. In June 2009, the Child Development Index, released by the National Statistics Coordination Board, indicated the human development of children deteriorated in the period 2003-2006, when the poverty rate rose.

POVERTY: Philippines says UN poverty target won't be met

The Philippines said Thursday it would fail to meet its UN development goal on halving poverty levels by 2015 after even more people were added to the ranks of the poor in recent years.
World leaders meeting at a UN summit in 2000 drew up a set of "Millennium Development Goals," chief of which was halving global poverty by 2015.
For the Philippines, that meant halving poverty levels -- defined as living on less than a dollar a day -- from 25 percent of the population in 2000.
"The 12.5 percent poverty incidence that we ought to be in in 2015, I think, is not a realistic goal," Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman told a news conference.
"I assure you we will not get there."
The last national census in 2006 showed the poverty incidence had worsened to 33 percent of the population.
Soliman said that slow economic growth since then, as well as scant jobs and many Filipinos going abroad for work, indicated the poverty rate had remained stuck at 33 percent even as the population grew.
Results of a national census held in May would be known by October, Soliman said.
She said the government was considering setting a more realistic target over the next five years.
However, she stressed the Philippines was on track to meet the other development goals set at the UN's millennium summit.
These included goals on universal primary school completion, cutting the number of mothers who die in childbirth and reducing the number of children who die before the age of five.
Neeraj Jain, head of the Philippines country office of Asian Development Bank (ADB), praised the government's efforts to help reduce poverty.
"The government is making a very serious effort, politically a very difficult effort, to reprioritise and transfer fiscal resources to human capital," he told the news conference, hosted by the Manila-based ADB.
The bank has announced a 400-million-dollar loan to expand a conditional cash transfer programme for poor families.
Under the programme the poorest families get cash grants of up to 31 dollars monthly on condition they keep all children aged 6-14 in school, regularly send pregnant members to health clinics and have babies vaccinated.
The money will help increase the number of families who can get the money from just under a million currently to 2.3 million by the end of 2011.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4ASU-fk1Uwvsn9gRYeViKOztsrg