Author: Nation Reporter
Date: January 23, 2007
Type of article: News
Source: The Daily Nation - only available online by registration and paid subscription fee

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The fight against poverty will only be won if special attention is given to slums and the poor, a top UN official said yesterday.

UN Habitat executive director Anna Tibaijuka said few governments were willing to provide the minimum basic services to slum dwellers in spite of them (slums) accommodating about a sixth of the world’s population.

Dr Tibaijuka said “the fight against the feminisation of poverty and economic injustice shall not be won if special attention is not given to human settlements and how people live and work.”

She said women bore the brunt of poverty in the slums and were exposed more to HIV/Aids.

“Slums pose serious challenge to the prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids. 

“Sadly, it is women and girls who are affected and infected because of their disadvantaged role in society as proscribed by our cultures and traditions,” she added.

Disadvantaged role

Dr Tibaijuka was addressing scores of women at the UN Complex in Gigiri on the sidelines of the World Social Forum, taking place at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.

The social forum is organised annually as an alternative to a meeting of world leaders and leading chief executives, who meet in Davos, Switzerland, every year, to discuss how to run the global economy.

The Davos meeting is known as the World Economic Forum, and for the past 30 years, a select group of CEOs and world leaders meets during the last week of January near the Alps.

On its part, the social forum was designed to tell the world that globalisation and open markets do not have all the answers to fighting poverty.

The Nairobi’s meeting is the seventh edition and brings together activists, social movements, networks, coalitions from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and other parts of Africa.
Activities include workshops, symposium and processions.