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Health Care
HIV/AIDS
- Anti-retrovirals (ARVs) are effective HIV medications that can keep people feeling well and extend their lives by years, and their cost has come down considerably. It is urgent that these medications be made available to poor people who need them. In addition to programs that target HIV/AIDS directly, rural families need crops and technologies that are less labor-intensive as fewer healthy farmers are available (Hunger Report 2005, Page 75).
- Short-term, communities and governments must increase public awareness about HIV/AIDS and encourage voluntary testing and counseling, supply cheaper and more effective antiretroviral drugs, empower and foster social support for women, and provide education on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Longer-term, a vaccine is needed (Hunger Report 2003, Side Bar: Page 80) Cross Reference: Empowerment of Women
Malaria
- Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are endemic in many developing countries. These three diseases alone kill more than 6 million people each year. As such, countries need effective health care systems that reach and can be afforded by people most in need (Hunger Report 2004, Page 86)
Tuberculosis
- Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are endemic in many developing countries. These three diseases alone kill more than 6 million people each year. As such, countries need effective health care systems that reach and can be afforded by people most in need (Hunger Report 2004, Page 86)
Healthcare
- Improving a country's overall economic growth, while necessary, will not, in and of itself, reduce poverty and hunger. To succeed, poor and hungry people must participate in this economic growth as well. Toward that end, funding must be targeted toward: Small-scale farmers and people living in rural areas, who comprise three out of four poor people worldwide; Women and children, who are among the most socially, politically, economically and physically vulnerable to hunger; and People who are sick and infirm who often have greater nutrition needs. Resources also should be directed toward very poor countries (Hunger Report 2004, Page 84) Cross Reference: Development Assistance, Empowerment of Women, and Economy
- Africa: Farm and rural nonfarm activities are synergistic. Therefore, the broad development of institutions, infrastructure and facilities in rural areas must be seen in light of how they affect agricultural production and competitiveness. Countries also must invest in their people by supporting employment training, education and health care, and creating institutions and policies that make ending hunger and poverty an explicit and measurable goal. In this regard, strategies for improving agriculture must be cognizant of the broader rural development objectives and careful assessments done to ensure addressing one constraint does not create harm for the other, especially relating to environmental sustainability…Thoughtful, innovative ways of tapping into, and intelligently using, local information and experience about local soil conditions, drought cycles, pests and diseases should be sought when formulating region-specific agricultural innovations and support services (Hunger Report 2003, Page 87). Cross Reference: African Agriculture, Employment, and Rural Development
- The United States should provide development aid to: Support traditional and nontraditional agricultural exports in which women control the proceeds; work with women's groups in low-income countries to increase women's entitlement to land and access to credit; retrain women farmers who have been displaced; provide legal support and health care assistance to workers who are exposed to pesticides and other harmful chemicals; and ensure that American companies, contractors and subcontractors that produce agricultural products abroad abide by U.S. labor standards and observe U.S. health and safety protocols for their workers (Hunger Report 2003, Side Bar: Page 23). Cross Reference: Agriculture, Empowerment of Women, and Development Assistance
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