Stephen Lewis Lecture at Mount Allison University September 28, 2009

Millennium Development Goals: Targets for 2015

Cut Hunger and Poverty in Half – This is a section where we will probably not succeed. ¼ of the world’s population is living on $1.25 per day. Somehow we have found millions of dollars to bail out banks but we can not come up with the pennies needed to feed people??

Drop in the Infant Mortality Rate – Close to 9 million children die every year from reasons that should not cause their demise. Such as diseases they could be vaccinated for, hunger and other causes.

The Reduction of Maternal Mortality – There is nearly ½ million women who die each year in childbirth.

Every Child goes to Primary School – 77 million children do not go to school. They can not afford the school fees, uniforms, or books.

Gender Equality – You can not marginalize 52% (women) of the population. Also the AIDs virus is passed through sexual violence during war times. Up to 5 million people have died in the Congo where ¼ of the women have been raped. There are 19,000 Peace Keepers there but they still can not protect the women.

Turn Back Communicable Diseases - AIDs Hiv, Malaria, PneumoniaThe criminalization of homosexuality will never stop the diseases from spreading. During the AIDs epidemic no one took into account the amount of orphans that would be left behind. The grandmothers in Africa have to take care of the young. There is an entire generation gone from age 20-50 years of age. How can you plan for the future when and entire generation is gone?? Sometimes children as young as 8 years take care of the younger children and whatever family they have left.

Sustainable Development and a Sustainable Environment – There is the possibility of a catastrophic event between the years 2030 and 2050 which is unavoidable. Rising sea levels, environmental refugees, drought and the loss of food security everywhere.

Build a Partnership between the Developed and Underdeveloped Nations – We have made many promises to address the human condition; however, all countries are in trouble. All Countries have been using the economic crisis as an excuse to not fulfill the promises of aid, assistance and environmental problems.

Climate Change will make a lot of these issues even worse. People at the local level are becoming more engaged locally as well as globally. Now they need to get everyone else to understand.