Public services For All fight poverty
Oxfam-Québec and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have joined forces to call for universal access to water, health care and education.
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In 2000, all Member States of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals, a series of eight realistic and achievable goals designed to end extreme poverty in the world by 2015.
Yet, today:
• 4,000 children will die of diarrhea caused by dirty water; |
Clean water. Working toilets. Classes with teachers. Clinics with doctors and nurses. This seems to go without saying. These are fundamental rights. Here in Canada, targeted public programs have allowed us to combat disease and train educated workers, setting the foundations for the prosperity we enjoy today. However, these fundamental services remain out of reach for the vast majority of poor people in the world.
Currently, rich countries are encouraging those in the developing world to privatize essential services, making them inaccessible to poor people. Without access to clean water, health care or education, poor people must fight for their survival and cannot break the cycle of poverty.
In countries where international aid has supported universal public services, there has already been progress. In Tanzania, free education has meant that three and a half million more children go to school. In Sri Lanka and Malaysia, where water is subsidized, infant mortality rates have dropped between 40% and 70% in just 10 years. In Uganda, attendance in certain clinics rose by 100% after user fees were abolished.
It is therefore essential that we call on world leaders to respect their commitments to the Millennium Goals. Developing countries must allocate an adequate proportion of their annual budgets to ensure funding for public services. Developed countries must increase and improve development aid, allocating funds for the development of public services and not their privatization. They must also work together to cancel the debts owed by the poorest countries.
The world needs free and public health care and education systems. The world needs six million more trained teachers and health care professionals. The world needs adequate water and sanitation services.
We are asking six million of you to commit to supporting us. Add your voice to those of Afsana and Fatouma. Join the growing global movement calling for health, education and water For All!
One person can make a big difference.
Imagine what six million could do!
Watch for new developments in the campaign!
