East Timor 10 years on – reasons to be cheerful

By James Batley, Deputy Director General Country Programs, AusAID

I went back to Dili last July for the first time in nearly ten years. It was great to return to a place that had given me some of the most intense and memorable experiences of my professional life, to revisit many of Dili’s landmarks, and to catch up with many old
friends. I spent much of my time reminiscing over the highs and lows of my three years in Dili which started in June 1999: the long lines of expectant voters on the day of the ballot on East Timor’s future on 30 August 1999; the violence that erupted after the announcement of the result; the rows of burnt-out and blackened shops and buildings that remained; the arrival of international troops led by Australia, and the beginnings of the UN administration; the emergence of East Timor’s political leaders…

Yet for all those vivid memories, the Dili I saw last July was not the city I left in 2002. At one level, the face of Dili has changed, with hundreds of new buildings, large and small, in all parts of the city. The traffic on the streets, too, has noticeably intensified. Dili certainly gives visitors a sense of busyness and of energy.

Australia is helping to improve women and children’s health by supporting mobile health clinics to travel to remote villages. Photo: Joao Vas / AusAID

Australia is helping to improve women and children’s health by supporting mobile health clinics to travel to remote villages. Photo: Joao Vas / AusAID

The reason I travelled to Dili last year was to attend the annual meeting between East Timor’s Government and its development partners. It was this meeting that really brought home to me the deeper changes that have taken place in East Timor over the past ten years. During the UNTAET period, the international community essentially set the development agenda. Mechanisms were certainly put in place to consult Timorese leaders about their own priorities, and much energy was put into understanding the aspirations of the Timorese people themselves. Even so, at the major donor meetings I’m sure that many Timorese leaders felt like spectators, rather than active participants, let alone in the driver’s seat.

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Making Mother’s Day a happy one for women in the developing world

By Benedict David, Principal Health Advisor, AusAID

Sadly, having enough food for their families to eat, water to  drink and a school for their children to attend will be enough reason for  millions of mothers in the developing world to celebrate this Sunday. That’s if they even make it through childbirth.

Mother sits with child

A mother sits with her baby who is suffering from Malaria in the waiting room of St Michaels Guilleme Community Hospital in Malawi, 2009. Australian volunteers donate their time and skills as nurses and pharmacists to help train local staff and manage the high volume of patients. Photo: Kate Holt/Africa Practice

According to Save the Children’s 2012 State of the World’s Mothers report released this week, over half of all births are not attended by skilled health personnel and, on average, 1 in 30 women will die from  pregnancy-related causes.

The needs of pregnant women in the developing world are no different to those in wealthy countries like Australia. However, while Australia has on average $3000 to $3500 dollars per person for health care per year, developing countries such as PNG have no more than $30 to $40 dollars for health care per person per year. Less than 25 per cent of births are attended by skilled health personnel in Afghanistan, Chad, Laos and Nepal. In Ethiopia, this number is even lower at only six per cent.

Australia is working hard to turn this situation around and give mothers in poor countries a chance. Australia supports maternal health programs in Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, East Timor, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Nepal and across the Pacific.

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The 2009 Samoan tsunami: Impressive reconstruction efforts, but Samoa’s scars still run deep

By Rob Tranter, First Assistant Director General, Pacific Division, AusAID

Two and a half years ago in September 2009, the Tavana family from Saleaumua village in Samoa saw their entire life swept away by one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the small Pacific nation.

With the Tavana family out the front of the Caritas-built house. Photo: AusAID

With the Tavana family out the front of the Caritas-built house. Photo: AusAID

I remember being at the Crisis Centre in Canberra as news of an earthquake that had just struck off the coast of Samoa came flooding in. The 8.3 magnitude quake triggered a huge tsunami that ripped through the southern Samoan island of Upolu.

Saleaumua, on the south coast of Upolu, was one of the worst hit villages. It was completely flattened by the disaster. And while the Tavanas saved all members of their family, they lost their home and all of their possessions while fleeing from the advancing waves.

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Two new vaccines to protect the children of Ghana

By Dan Thomas, GAVI Alliance

26 April, 2012 will mark a milestone for Ghana. On that day, during World Immunisation Week, the West African nation will make an unprecedented step towards saving the lives of its children from two of the biggest child killers in the country, through the simultaneous introduction of two new vaccines.

Yet word is spreading about these two devastating diseases, and thanks to generous donors around the world, the GAVI Alliance is making pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines available to children in the developing world.

Globally, pneumococcal disease is responsible for approximately half a million deaths among children under five every year. As well as being the leading cause of pneumonia, it also causes meningitis, which leaves many of the children it does not kill with permanent disabilities, including mental retardation and seizures. Pneumococcal disease can also lead to blood poisoning, as well as middle ear infections, which can cause permanent deafness.

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Scholarships are only part of the Australian aid story in Vietnam

By Michael Wilson, Minister-Counsellor (Mekong and Regional programs) AusAID, Hanoi Vietnam

Education, Infrastructure and Environment form the big picture of where, how and why we are making a difference in Vietnam.

They are areas where we have the capacity, deep understanding and track record to deliver results. The Government of Vietnam has repeatedly identified these areas as priorities for development, as it aims to grow into a higher income industrial economy and reduce poverty rates to a single digit level within the next decade.

Opening ceremony of the My Thuan Bridge, the first across the Mekong River. This bridge now carries more than five million vehicles per year. Photo: AusAID

Opening ceremony of the My Thuan Bridge, the first across the Mekong River. This bridge now carries more than five million vehicles per year. Photo: AusAID

This year alone there are almost 250 Vietnamese academics, government officials and business leaders studying at our world-class universities thanks to Australian Government scholarships.

As AusAID’s Minister-Counsellor for Mekong and Regional programs, I have been fortunate to meet some of these and many more previous recipients of Australian scholarships. To date there have been more than 3,000 alumni, stretching over 35 years, who have been invited to study in Australia as the result of the scholarships program.

Through the many conversations I have had with graduates of the program, I’ve learned of the great appreciation alumni have not only for their education, but also for the experience – both of which they share in equal measure. AusAID makes this investment in Vietnam’s human resources because it is a priority area for development, which has also been agreed on by the Governments of Vietnam and Australia.

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