‘Spectre of poverty’ hangs over tribes and indigenous groups: UN labour agency

Indigenous and tribal communities are around three times more likely to face extreme poverty than others with women “consistently at the bottom of all social and economic indicators”,- UN labour experts said on Monday.

Highlighting new data showing that disproportionate numbers of indigenous people live on less than $1.90 a day – 18.2 per cent versus 6.8 per cent of non-indigenous people - the International Labour Organization (ILO) insisted that millions are being held back by a “spectre of poverty”.

The problem warrants global attention because this at-risk population is significantly larger than was previously thought, ILO insists.

According to the UN organization, there are more than 476 million indigenous people globally, the majority of whom live in relatively prosperous countries.

Spread of polio still an international public health concern

The opinion comes in a statement released on Tuesday following the latest meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) that provides technical advice on international public health emergencies.   

“The Committee unanimously agreed that the risk of international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and recommended the extension of Temporary Recommendations for a further three months”, it said.

The Emergency Committee, which met in December, expressed concern over “the significant increase” in cases of wild poliovirus 1 (WPVI), the last of three strains to be eliminated.   

There were 28 cases in 2018, compared to 113 as at mid-December last year, “with no significant success yet in reversing this trend.”

Transmission remains widespread in Pakistan, where challenges include continued refusal to accept vaccination by individuals and communities.  There was also evidence of further spread to neighbouring Afghanistan, where ongoing instability makes scores of children inaccessible, particularly in the south. 

Investing in health workers yields ‘triple dividend - WHO chief says

“They are doing life-saving work every day, including during holidays when the rest of us are with our loved ones at home”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in his video message for the new year.

“But the world needs to do a better job in supporting our health workers, paying them, training them and protecting them”.

WHO estimates that the world will need another 18 million health workers, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.

He recalled that 2020 is the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, which celebrates the professionals who provide a wide range of health services “from the first moments of life to the last”.

There are 22 million nurses and two million midwives worldwide, who prevent, diagnose and treat diseases, provide expert care during childbirth and also serve people caught in humanitarian emergencies and conflicts, according to WHO.