CARE Australia, Marie Stopes International Australia and the International Women’s Development Agency believe the world’s ability to reach the Millennium Development Goals depends on achieving MDG 3: Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women.

Many of the health and social challenges faced by women are the product of profound and persistent gender inequality and the under-representation of women in decision-making. 

MDG 3 (gender equality) and MDG 5 (maternal health) are two of the goals that are most off track. Amongst many gender-related issues, the absence of sexual and reproductive health rights and services makes pregnancy a high-risk event in many parts of the world.

If we are to have any hope of achieving the MDGs by 2015, groups at all levels must focus on promoting women’s empowerment and equality between women and men.

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At the end of the first day of the United Nations DPI / NGO Conference on Advancing Global Health, CARE was disappointed to see that gender equity and women’s empowerment were not addressed in the conference’s draft declaration.

‘Without an explicit and substantial commitment to supporting women and girls, the world will fall short of reaching the Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 deadline,’ says Dr Julia Newton-Howes, Chief Executive of CARE Australia.

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Almost a million people in Pakistan are at grave risk if they do not get the help they need.

The response to this unprecedented disaster, already affecting over 20 million people in the poverty-stricken country, continues to lack critical funds as aid agencies struggle to gain the interest of donors.

"The Pakistan floods are on a scale we have never seen before; however, the funding we have received in no way reflects this," says CARE Australia CEO Julia Newton-Howes.

While the current death toll remains lower than the huge disasters of this year’s Haiti earthquake and the 2004 tsunami, the number of people whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated is growing by the day.

The UN has indicated that over 800,000 people are currently cut off from by the floods, a tenth of the entire population is currently affected and another 3.5 million children face serious threats of illness and disease.

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Donate to the Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal

Read past media releases:
'Wall of water' set to continue destruction in Pakistan (11 August)

CARE provides emergency relief and health services in Pakistan (4 August)

CARE activates clinics, emergency stockpiles in Pakistan (3 August)

Melanie Brooks, from CARE International’s Emergency Response Team, has written about a friend, Shirley Case, who was killed in Afghanistan two years ago.

Melanie highlights the dangers faced by humanitarian workers, but also the important role they play in helping others.

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As the aid community marks the second annual World Humanitarian Day, aid workers in Pakistan are faced with an incomprehensible disaster and catastrophic floods that continue to grow.

In the last three months alone, CARE has responded to 15 natural disasters and 12 humanitarian crises, affecting 60 million people from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe; most of these have received no attention from the developed world. Another 27 million people are internally displaced; 10 million are refugees and one out of every six people in the world is chronically hungry.

The humanitarian aid workers who respond to these crises every day are also forgotten; often they are in as much danger as the people they help.

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As the toll of those affected grows at an unprecedented rate, floodwaters are increasing and moving downstream, causing more destruction from what is already Pakistan’s worst flood in generations.

The UN estimates that up to 14 million people have already been affected, with this number set to rise as the monsoon rains continue, bringing with them the real threat of a second-wave emergency and waterborne disease.

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Donate now to CARE's Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal.

Read past media releases:
CARE provides emergency relief and health services in Pakistan (4 August).

CARE activates clinics, emergency stockpiles in Pakistan (3 August).

Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan’s northwest province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have triggered the worst floods on record, affecting the area’s population of one million.

Reports indicate there have been more than 1000 deaths as well as widespread displacement. Major damages to infrastructure include the destruction of thousands of houses, roads and bridges, making search and rescue and assessments difficult. Many people are being evacuated from villages, with some areas only accessible by helicopter or boat.

The humanitarian priorities are supporting search and rescue operations, sourcing boats to improve access, rescue and assessment efforts, emergency shelter, food, health, water and sanitation, and relief item such as cooking utensils, water jerry cans and mosquito nets.
CARE is working with existing local partners in Swat, Charsaddah, Peshawar, Rajanpur, DG Khan and the most affected districts of Balochistan to complete rapid assessment in these districts.

CARE is working with partners to distribute emergency relief items including tents, shawls, mosquito nets, plastic floor mats, family hygiene kits and kitchen sets, supporting more than 5000 people. Five mobile health clinics have been set up in the Swat district with a team of doctors and other health staff.

CARE will continue to monitor and assess the needs of those affected.

Donate to CARE's Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal and support survivors with essential emergency relief.

Six months after the devastating earthquake struck the already impoverished nation of Haiti, the recovery continues.

Over 222,000 people were killed; a further three million were affected and 1.3 million remain displaced after the disaster.

Six months on, the scope of CARE’s response is huge, ranging from shelter to water and sanitation, hygiene, food security and education.

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CARE welcomes today’s historic move that is set to see the establishment of UN Women; a long anticipated amalgamation of the current four UN women’s bodies into one single and more powerful entity.

UN Women will absorb the current mandates of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues; the UN Division for the Advancement of Women; and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).

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As world leaders gather in Canada for the G20 summit, CARE calls on the Australian government to show leadership and give a commitment to an additional $60 million specifically to maternal and child health each year until 2015.

Of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the world has made the least progress in achieving the targets set for goals four and five: reducing maternal and child mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health services. Many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have made little or no progress at all in reducing maternal mortality.

Significant investment is needed if these goals are to be achieved by the 2015 deadline.

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CARE’s work in Papua New Guinea focuses on some of the remotest communities in the Eastern Highlands province, and an AIDS program in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB).

CARE is conducting field research in the Eastern Highlands Province to better understand the situation of women and girls. Initial indications suggest that maternal and infant mortality are likely to be higher than the provincial average, women’s literacy is likely to be lower, the age that girls are taken out of school is likely to be very low and women’s role in decision making is severely compromised as a result.

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The three-year blockade against Gaza has systematically dismantled the economy and left civilian infrastructure in a state of collapse. The blockade has reduced the population to near-complete dependence on international food assistance. Nearly 40 percent of the Palestinian population is food-insecure and unemployment levels in the West Bank and Gaza Strip remain high.

CARE is calling for an end to the embargo on Gaza, the easing of movement and restrictions on access for humanitarian purposes, and increasing resources for emergency assistance and long term development to WBG to meet the humanitarian needs.

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Today, more than 98 per cent of Australia’s federal budget is, quite rightly, spent domestically. In the 2010/2011 budget alone, health expenditure in Australia will be $56.9 billion and social security welfare will total $115 billion.

In comparison, even though there was a considerable increase announced a fortnight ago, only $4.3 billion, or 1.2 per cent of the federal budget, will be spent on foreign aid. While this is a tiny percentage of the overall budget, expenditure on foreign aid works.

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As the only developed nation almost entirely surrounded by developing countries, this increase reflects Australia’s responsibility in the region.

“This is not only a brave decision by the government, it is the right decision to increase Australia’s aid program this significantly”, says CARE Australia CEO Dr Julia Newton-Howes.

“The challenge now is for the government to ensure that these funds really make a difference to the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world, many of whom live in countries that are our closest neighbours”.

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This May marks two years since Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar with unprecedented force. CARE is continuing to work with survivors through long-term development projects to recover their lives, livelihoods and dignity for the longer term.

Click here to watch a video about Cyclone Nargis and how the people of Myanmar are rebuilding their lives with your support.

The documentary follows the journey of Network Ten’s Ten Late News presenter Sandra Sully as she visits development projects supported by CARE and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in Timor-Leste. It will take you on a journey that demonstrates how supporting a new generation to live, learn, earn and lead in their communities gives them the power to change their world.

Click here to watch Independent Future online.

At 12 noon this Sunday 18 April, a documentary featuring CARE's work in Timor-Leste, Independent Future, will screen on Australia's Network Ten (Southern Cross Ten). 

The documentary follows the journey of Network Ten’s Ten Late News presenter Sandra Sully as she visits development projects supported by CARE and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in Timor-Leste (East Timor).

On her journey she visits projects that help women, girls and their communities to overcome poverty and learns how all Timorese women and girls have the potential to lead their communities to a better, brighter future – and all they need is the opportunity.

The documentary highlights the struggles people in Timor-Leste face in their daily life and their individual role in improving their neighbourhood, community and ultimately their emerging nation. Sandra visits projects such as Lafaek, the nation’s only children’s educational magazine, produced by CARE, which allows Timor-Leste’s children to learn for the first time in their own local language.

It will take you on a journey that demonstrates how supporting a new generation to live, learn, earn and lead in their communities gives them the power to change their world.

CARE is saddened by the tragedy of today’s earthquake in the mountainous Tibetan Plateau in southwest China. More than 300 people have been killed and thousands injured after a massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake destroyed homes, roads and infrastructure. While the exact extent of the damage is not yet known, reports are that the affected areas have been severely damaged.

CARE has no presence in China at the moment, but with more than 60 years of emergency experience in Asia, CARE has emergency response experts on standby in the region ready to deploy if needed.

Three months after the earthquake that changed Haiti forever, survivors are taking the future in their own hands. The streets are busy with “tap-taps” – colourful local trucks – transporting construction materials. Residents of spontaneous settlement sites have elected committees to serve as camp authorities and cooperate with aid agencies. As Haitians begin the massive task of recovery, CARE and the humanitarian community are working to ensure that they have the tools and expertise to build back a safer, stronger Haiti.

CARE’s staff has more than doubled since the quake, to nearly 300, and continues to grow to meet the needs. We are proud of our accomplishments since the January 12 catastrophe, and planning for the long road to recovery.

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