Xinhua, Addis Ababa :
A report on Sunday underlined the need to boosting crisis response and financing for Africa’s continued progress.
While an increasing number of Africans are enjoying higher living standards, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa should redouble efforts to ensure crises such as the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa do not reverse development achievements, said a joint statement by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) quoting the report released on Sunday.
The report, which was released during the 2014 African Economic Conference here in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, says tackling vulnerabilities should be at the center of the continent’s development efforts.
Africa’s poverty rates have continued to decline, despite the adverse effects of the recent food, fuel, and global economic crisis, says the report.
“Assessing Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa,” has been produced by the African Development Bank (AfDB), ECA, the African Union (AU) Commission, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Conflict, political instability and natural or man-made disasters threaten to unravel the progress made on the MDGs, the eight internationally-agreed targets to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child deaths, disease, gender inequality and environmental degradation by 2015.
“Even after societies recuperate, the potential for development remains impaired long after the crises are over, as human capital is depleted and institutions are weakened,” say the authors of the report.
The current Ebola crisis in West Africa, a region that was experiencing significant growth and development progress, is threatening to set back affected and surrounding countries by several years.
The challenge for the region, says the report, is to ensure continued good governance and accountability, and a sustained focus on social protection for all, including the most vulnerable, who are often the hardest hit by crises and shocks.
A report on Sunday underlined the need to boosting crisis response and financing for Africa’s continued progress.
While an increasing number of Africans are enjoying higher living standards, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa should redouble efforts to ensure crises such as the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa do not reverse development achievements, said a joint statement by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) quoting the report released on Sunday.
The report, which was released during the 2014 African Economic Conference here in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, says tackling vulnerabilities should be at the center of the continent’s development efforts.
Africa’s poverty rates have continued to decline, despite the adverse effects of the recent food, fuel, and global economic crisis, says the report.
“Assessing Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa,” has been produced by the African Development Bank (AfDB), ECA, the African Union (AU) Commission, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Conflict, political instability and natural or man-made disasters threaten to unravel the progress made on the MDGs, the eight internationally-agreed targets to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child deaths, disease, gender inequality and environmental degradation by 2015.
“Even after societies recuperate, the potential for development remains impaired long after the crises are over, as human capital is depleted and institutions are weakened,” say the authors of the report.
The current Ebola crisis in West Africa, a region that was experiencing significant growth and development progress, is threatening to set back affected and surrounding countries by several years.
The challenge for the region, says the report, is to ensure continued good governance and accountability, and a sustained focus on social protection for all, including the most vulnerable, who are often the hardest hit by crises and shocks.
