4
8
1
2
For every dollar that flowed into Sub-saharan Africa
SSA),$1.50 flowed out to the rest of the world due to
the 8% now expected to achieve the MDG's. African
countries have the challenge of finding ways of solving
the triple problems of slow economic growth, high and
rising unemployment and increasing poverty in a time of
global economic crisis. Unless this can be done expedi-
tiously, the African child will remain disadvantaged and
his survival threatened. The United Nation's Economic
Report for Africa for 2010 suggests a number of ways
all of which if implemented would have a beneficial
effect on child survival in the sub region. These are as
follows:
(
debt repayments, thus making Africa a net creditor to
the rest of the world. African economies had insufficient
resources to invest in its own people and businesses.
Protectionism by advanced countries and exchange rate
misalignments meant poor access to world markets for
African producers despite rapid trade liberalization. It
was with such uncertainty that African nations entered
the new millennium and ratified the MDG's.
The 2001 UNCTAD report stated that “Africa was
poorer than two decades earlier due to declining aid and
terms of trade, mounting debt, ineffective structural ad-
justment policies. Her per capita income was 10% be-
low 1980 level; 28 million Africans faced severe food
Avoiding the commodity trap. Sub- Saharan Africa's
heavy dependence on exports of primary commodities
and low value-added products have been partly to blame
for her poor performance in world trade. In 2004, Africa
lost out on the boom merchandise trading when Asia's
economy grew by 5% while non-oil commodity trade
8
shortages. Many of these were children too young to
fend for themselves.
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3
only grew by 0.6%.
Africa must find thus, a way to
Against the odds however, Africa grew faster than any
other developing region in 2001, reflecting better macro-
economic management, strong agricultural production,
and the cessation of conflicts in several countries. But
the rate of growth was not enough for achievement of
any of the MDG's which were related to child survival.
Thus poor economic growth negatively affects child
survival.
add value to her commodities moving into higher-value
exports by upgrading technology and improving produc-
tivity. It can be done. Botswana's prudent management
of her diamond resources, made her the fastest growing
economy in the 1w4 orld between gaining independence
1966 and 1980, a middle income country with a
U5MR of 31, GNI $6470, able to provide 10 years free
education for her children. Sierra Leone's diamonds on
the other hand have scarcely benefitted her people15. Her
U5MR stood at 194, and the GNI at $320 in 2010.
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Where are we now? Sub Saharan Africa today
Despite all the challenges however, from 2004 and
Reduced reliance on Official Development Assistance
(ODA) : Africa has relied heavily on ODA's (foreign
aid). In 2008, ODA's to Africa grew by 11%, bu1t6 with
the credit crunch, was expected to fall in 2010. The
decline has implications for achieving the MDG's, and
so on child survival. In addition, a lot of Africa's scarce
resources has gone into servicing debts, and also the
terms and conditions for many such loans were unfa-
vourable17 for socio- economic development and
growth.
2
008, sub Saharan Africa's annual economic growth
averaged 5%, mainly due to o0il exports, until the global
1
economic downturn of 2008. During the same period,
considerable progress was made in some areas affecting
child survival, such as reduction in U5MR from 160 in
2
006 to 145 in 2007, increased primary school enrol-
ment, measles vaccination, use of insecticide-treated bed
nets, reductions in HIV prevalence rates in some coun-
tries, and improvements in some aspects of gender
equality. Maternal mortality ratios (MMR's) have been
stagnant. In 2005, the ratio stood at 900 per 100 000 live
births, with some countries' MMRs exceeding 1000 per
Development- enhancing policy on Foreign Direct
Investments (FDI's): FDI's could be a way of bringing
in funding for development into the economy without
incurring more debt. For such funds to be useful to de-
velop the country however the products must be linked
to the rest of the economy. At present, with most FDI's
the products are taken in their raw state out of the coun-
try with the investors making huge profits with no bene-
fit to the nations' economy. The UNCTAD report of
2005 called for a “rethinking of the one-sided emphasis
on attracting FDI and its replacement with a more bal-
anced and more strategic approach tailored to African
socio-ec1o7nomic conditions and development chal-
lenges.”
1
Leone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, and Nigeria).
00 000 live births, (including Chad, N1i3ger Sierra
About 80 per cent of maternal deaths are preventable if
women have access to essential maternity and basic
health care services. Without the achievement of MDG
5
, any success with MDG 4 remains hollow. In addition
there has been very limited headway with poverty and
hunger reduction, and the many disparities due to gender
income, and disability. In 2009 the effects of the global
recession became evident in Africa. On economic de-
velopment, there was among other things, a si1g1nificant
deceleration in growth and high unemployment.
Domestic resource mobilization; Mobilizing "hidden"
African domestic financial resources can be done in a
number of ways, such as improving tax collection, for-
malization of the informal sector economic activities,
and channeling more workers remittances through the
formal banking systems. In 2004 officially recorded
Where are we going -what can Africa do for the fu-
ture?
In 2010, Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was
expected to increase to 4.3% which still fell far short of