Population urged to "Stand Up Against Poverty"

Accra, Oct. 11, GNA - Ghana will on Sunday join the rest of the world to 93Stand Up Against Poverty=94 in a global symbolic gesture to draw attention to the importance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and resolve to bring down poverty.

A statement issued by Ghana Millennium Development Goals Campaign, a network of civil society organisations engaged in advocacy around the eight MDGs in Ghana, said the aim is to 93conscientize people on the poverty situation in our country and the world at large.

The Ghana MDGs Campaign led by the Christian Council of Ghana is urging every Ghanaian to stand up tall in the 24-hour period of October 15-16, 2006 with activities, recording same on the Stand Up campaign sheets and forwarding them to the Christian Council for collation, it said.

The statement said the campaign was to lead Ghana to stand up with the rest of the world because of several reasons - 51.7 per cent of Ghanaians live below the poverty line, that is, less than one dollar a day; Ghana is a food deficit country especially in cereals and meat/fish production and food insecurity and poverty are chronic with the three northern regions, Central Region and coastal sections of the Volta Region being vulnerable.

Other reasons are that there is child malnutrition and lack of access to basic needs as good drinking water, shelter, education, transport and health care in most places; proportion of children under-five increased from 26 per cent in 1998 to 30 per cent in 2003; malaria kills 800,000 under-five children and accounts for 44.5 per cent of all outpatient illnesses and 12.3 per cent of all deaths in health facilities and 49 per cent of the population has no access to safe water.

Reported cases of guinea worm increased from 5,545 in 2002 in 2002 to 8,000 in 2003, suggesting a deterioration in water quality; level of access to safe sanitation is 55 per cent; 70 per cent of urban population lives in slum conditions; the number of slum dwellers is expected to reach 5.8 million by 2010 and HIV prevalence rate which is five per cent could increase to 8.2 per cent by 2009.

These and many more other data are index of the country's poverty which must jolt all of us to stand up, raise our voices against poverty and commit ourselves to bring down poverty in Ghana.=94 The statement said a good turnout would not only 93land the country in the Guinness Book of Records, but will popularise the MDGs internally and help to establish Ghana's status in their implementation whilst engendering monitoring and advocacy in areas of neglect.

According to the programme, religious bodies would hold Stand Up Moments at services and gatherings on Sunday and read pledges in support of MDGs, while there would be a musical concert and a rally.

With GPRS II targeting growth and poverty reduction and the state of supportive environment indexed as strong, there are potentials of reaching the goal of reducing by half poverty and hunger by 2015,=94 the statement said.