ADB stresses economic, social benefits for all
By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD—Asian Development Bank Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss stressed the need for ensuring access to economic and social benefits in Asia to many people and not just to the few.
“Asia is the fastest growing region in the world, and yet if specific actions are not taken, there will be many people falling behind, not being able to benefit from growth,” said the Vice President in a speech at the opening session of the “Taking Action for the World’s Poor and Hungry People” conference in Beijing (China). According to ADB press release received here on Wednesday, she said income poverty in Asia, as measured by the $1 per day benchmark, is declining, much due to the People’s Republic ofChina’s (PRC’s) rapid growth. However, the region still has more than 600 million living on less than $1 per day; and about 1.8 billion people living on less than $2 per day, she added.
Young girls in the region still lack access to primaryeducation. Infant mortality in Asia is around 60 per thousand live births and Maternal mortality is about 30% higher than that ofLatin America and Caribbean. Schaefer-Preuss said Asia faces the twin challenge of ensuring energy security and preventing environmental degradation. “Protecting the environment is a critical challenge onpoverty alleviation since it will lead to increased distress on agriculture and food security, foods and other natural disasters, while significant concerns on human habitat and safety remain.”
“The poorest people in the region suffer the first and most,” she said. The Vice President also emphasized that society’s most vulnerable groups - children, women, and those living in rural areas - are suffering the most, and that the rural-urban disparityis rising. “Alleviating poverty and hunger means we have to address theneeds in various economic and social policies- ranging fromhealth, environment, labor, rural and urban, social protection,infrastructure - at regional, national and local levels,” she said. Schaefer-Preuss added that in many parts of Asia,governments are becoming much more proactive in understanding thecomplexities of poverty.