Healthcare: Citizens have a right to deserve better

Governments worldwide have a social contract to provide better
healthcare for their citizens. However this is better said than done.
Third world countries in particular are allocating more to military
than healthcare. Talk of misplaced priorities.

Even in the first (or fast) world America is struggling to provide
proper effective healthcare. This has been a headache which they have
been trying to grapple with since the Clinton administration through
the Bush administration and now the Obama administration.

Africa is a sad case when it comes to healthcare. In absence of
government services, NGO's and aid-related agencies have stepped to at
least provide basic services. The needs are vast as one wonders
whether their focus should be aimed at HIV/AIDS related causes,
Maternal & Childcare Healthcare (MCH), now resurgent cholera or the
new fast spreading swine flu (H1N1) among others.

Efforts on good practice awareness must continously be encouraged.
This can be achieved through many different fora using (cash-strapped)
goverment workers, NGO's, CBO's, community health workers and
volunteers. The message must be continously and tirelessly preached.
The knowledge taught to the people especially the rural masses is
indeed a step towards the right direction in making their lives
healthier.

Clean and available water is key to good hygiene. There seems to be
water water everywhere yet citizens struggle to have this essential
commodity at their doorstep. Kenya is a sad example as taps, dams,
rivers and catchment areas are drying up due to sheer negligence and
dare I say corruption. Shockingly enough even India is now rationing
water usage throughout the country. At least India have acknowledged
the problem and are working to manage the situation. For Kenya, with a
heavy heart, I dare not say the same.

Millions of children, especially girls, risk falling out of education and into work as the impact of the world economic crisis

Millions of children, especially girls, risk falling out of education and into work as the impact of the world economic crisis deepens, the ITUC has warned today, the World Day Against Child Labour.

“With rising poverty and inequality, and funding for schools under pressure in developing and transition countries in particular, the economic crisis is likely to add even more children to the 200 million who are already at work instead of getting a proper education. This is a tragic scenario just ten years since the ILO adopted Convention 182 on eliminating the worst forms of child labour,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.

The ITUC has launched a new video spot to highlight the problem and press governments to tackle the exploitation of children more effectively, both through funding quality education and enforcing labour law.

Tens of millions of adults are losing their jobs due to the crisis, putting family incomes under huge pressure and making it even more difficult for poorer families to cover the costs of education.

“The consequences of child labour, often devastating for the children concerned, are also felt in terms of economic and social development in the longer term. Countries which do not ensure universal education will not have the broad base of skills and knowledge required for solid economic foundations for the future,” Ryder added.

The ITUC and its Global Unions partners have also pointed to major deficiencies in the global response to the crisis for the poorest countries. While the G20 governments agreed to make special funding available at their London Summit in April, not enough money is available to support the poorest countries in particular.

On top of this the International Monetary Fund, which is the main vehicle chosen by the G20 to deliver the funding, is putting similar conditions on its lending as in the past, despite G20 pledges of reform. This means that public spending on education, as well as other key areas, risks being limited or even cut at a time when it is most needed.

Ethical View

I have actually been musing as to what my first article would be all about and having spent a few sleepless nights it finally hit me. And so here we go.


The whole CSR practice is just part of Social Responsibility (SR) as a whole. The first failures to adhere to SR are those in leadership positions. They can classified as politicians, business leaders, religous leaders and various societal pivots.

Most of them by virtue of their offices have abused their positions purely for selfish reasons at the expense of the masses. How then do you explain the current global economic meltdown, famine in Africa, political unrest, religious intolerance, illogical military excursions, price riots over food, environmental destruction, unreasonable oil prices and unfavourable trading conditions between north and south or developed and underdeveloped. The list is by no means exhausted as I might as well add global warming and climate change in the picture.

This level of irresponsible stewardship cuts across all races, continents and creed and is indeed a grave threat to the core existence of the human race. It is actually naked greed in its bare form.

What actually fuels this unbridled and vulgar greed? More often than not the love of dollars, euros, pounds, pulas, rupees, rands, yen and shillings. Blinded by the quest for more and more our stewards have broken every available rule and prevented any other new ones from standing in their way. The result is pain and suffering for millions of people across the globe.

It is at this point that Social Responsibility must then be the driving force to ensure that we continue to exist in a sustainable world and that the decisions for our children and generations ahead must be in our hands and not in the hands of a minority who basically are irresponsible stewards.

Only then can we as a people be sure that the resources that we have on this earth will outlive generations and not the other way round.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Welcome.

Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR) is a field that is taking more and more prominence in the way we do business today. I hope through this forum we can exchange information that will improve and enlighten CSR practioners and other interest groups.

Issues relating to the Ethical Audits, Standards, Environment, Health and Safety, Labour, Employment, Child Labour, Community Investment, Sustainability, Anti-Corruption and Suppliers/Contractors among others are more and more that are sharply in the focus.

I hope we will travel this journey together and become wiser in simply 'DOING THE RIGHT THING'.

After all it is our Social Responsibility to ensure that Mother Nature and her dependants are all happy.