South Asia's long march ahead

South Asian nations have made tremendous progress in the last 50 years, a period which began with independence from colonial rule for most of these nations. The progress is particularly significant because it has come despite the enormous constraints of resources and governance coupled with regular lashes of natural and man made disasters.

The agriculture sector has made dependable progress thus enhancing the ability to feed the 1.3 billion population of the region. Most of South Asiahas also developed modern communication and industrial infrastructure. It has taken advantage of manpower needs globally and countries like India has taken a significant lead in the computer software and information technology.

The visible progress in technology and science has also brought about nuclear weapons capability. This of course, poses persistent threat of the use of such weapons, particularly in view of the presence of terrorism. The region has experienced virtually continuous conflict and disorder -- Maoist insurgency in Nepal the faltering peace process in Sri Lanka, persistent enmity between Pakistan and India over Kashmir and Bhutan's military attempts to evict rebels from across the border. These seem to be forgotten by the rest of the world as Iraq and Afghanistan take centre stage. In 1991-2000 military spending increased by nearly 60 percent in South Asia. Such misplaced priorities for investment lie at the heart of the South Asian paradox: developments in technology and industrialisation have failed to bridge the urban-rural divide or lessen poverty, and social and gender inequalities. Too much energy and resources are wasted on amplifying divisions within and between countries. Religious fundamentalism and lack of toleration, in more than one country, has complicated things further. Only a few years back, late Dr. Mahbub ul Haq, the famous economist from Pakistan, had summarised the situation as follows: "South Asia is fast emerging as the poorest, the most illiterate, the most malnourished, the least gender-sensitive, indeed, the most deprived region in the world. Yet it continues to make more investment in arms than in the health and education of its people".

With nearly 1.3 billion people -- one-fifth of the world's population -- South Asia has 44 per cent of the world's poor or approximately 522 million people living on less than a dollar a day. During the 1990s, the incidence of poverty increased in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and declined slowly in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Furthermore, South Asia has some of the worst health indicators in the whole of Asia and the world. Forty percent of global mortality in children under 5 years occurs in four countries:

India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. About seventy percent of the world's low birth weight infants are in South Asia which has the world's worst record on child malnutrition, with almost half the children under five malnourished. South Asia accounts for about 30 per cent of all maternal deaths that occur globally, which is not surprising since only about one third of the births are attended by skilled personnel.

Though HIV prevalence in most of the SAARC countries remains low and is mostly concentrated in 'high risk groups' the sheer size of the population will influence the course and overall impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Of the world's 40 million people living with HIV, nearly four million are in India. A mere a 0.1 per cent increase in prevalence rate translates to an additional one million HIV/AIDS victims.

South Asia, is known to be the most gender insensitive region in the world.Son preference is common in most parts of South Asia. Violence against women in South Asia occurs throughout the lifecycle. Contrary to demographic expectations there are an estimated 60 million "missing women" with sex selective abortion prevalent in many parts of the region. With the exception of Sri Lanka, the ratio of literate females to males is the lowest in the world.

Although these problems have been known for decades and successive governments and action plans have focused on redressing them, progress has been pitifully slow. In order to move forward, the region must focus on human rights, equality of women and men, and the urgency of dealing with human development indicators that are seriously lagging behind. Paying attention to vulnerable population groups constitutes an essential element in a human rights approach and demands priority attention for those most in need.

While primary responsibility under the human rights system lies with individual States, the international community is also duty bound to provide effective international support to deal with shortages of resources and capacities in the region. Time is running out for South Asia to take appropriate actions to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, especially the goals related to poverty, gender equality, reduction of child morality, maternal health and HIV.Reproductive health rights and services are central to achieving the MDGs.

A Social Charter is an important agenda for the SAARC. The Charter would focus on cooperation for eradication of poverty from the region by addressing a host of issues like education, health, women's and children's welfare. Let us hope that, following the summit, actions will follow which will now change the lives of the poor and the vulnerable in the region and thus build the real path to peace and prosperity for South Asia.

Dr Wasim Zaman is the Director of the regional technical office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for South and West Asia based in Kathmandu, Nepal.