How The Australian Government Is Addressing The Millennium Development Goals

1. How The Australian Government Is Addressing The Millennium Development Goals Daniele Mendoza

2. Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger & Poverty • Australia has helped to increase food production and distribution in Asia, the Pacific and Africa. • Australia continues to fund the World Food Programme. • The government has helped support farmers in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and India. • Community development programs supported by Australia give people the confidence and skills to overcome poverty. • Australia is the largest bilateral donor to the Indonesian National Program for Community Empowerment. • Supporting sustainable agriculture programs in eastern Uganda. • Australia also provides support for the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee which offers the poor simple assets such as cows and provides them with training so they can make an income.

3. Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education • The government has contributed to the improvement of access to, and the quality of primary and secondary education in countries in Asia, the Pacific Region and Africa. • Australia has supported global education efforts through the Education for All—Fast Track Initiative. This partnership brings donors and developing governments together to allow more children to benefit for primary education. • Australia has helped give children living with disabilities and those living in conflict areas a chance for an education. This has happened in countries such as Fiji, Samoa and the Philippines.

4. Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women • Australian aid has supported improvements to girls' education in many developing countries such as Vanuatu, the Philippines and Pakistan. • Australia supported the United Nations Development Program's Micro-Enterprise Development Program in Nepal. This program helped women set up businesses and employed female workers. • Australia increased its assistance to programs to address violence against women in Melanesia and East Timor between 2007 and 2010.

5. Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality • Australia has helped deliver successful child vaccination programs in developing countries, such as Papua New Guinea and East Timor, over the past decade. • Improving child nutrition has been an important part of Australia's fight against child mortality in the region. Australia’s aid program has helped families in Nepal and the Philippines.

6. Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health • Australia has supported the training of birth attendants and midwives in the Asia-Pacific region over the past ten years. • Programs to improve health services in remote areas have helped give rural women better health support.

7. Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases • Australia's approach to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS has helped the countries such as Papua New Guinea and China. • Plan International Australia has worked with counterparts in Kenya, Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe to increase the rate of voluntary testing and community acceptance of those living with HIV. • Australia has helped reduce malaria in the Pacific. • Australian health programs in Burma, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have helped prevent the spread of tuberculosis

8. Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability • Australia has assisted vulnerable countries in the Pacific region adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. • Australia has helped protect 19 of the earth's largest marine ecosystems through support to the Global Environment Facility. • Australia has helped developing countries to move toward lower carbon growth and environmental sustainability through a range of international and regional programs. • Australia's Water and Sanitation initiative has helped increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and improve hygiene practices in many countries which include East Timor, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Solomon Islands.