The eight countries in South Asia have been shaken by the shocks and turbulence in commodity and financial markets over the last two years. The new UNICEF report states that these changes have inflicted new and dramatic stress on vast swathes of the population in a region where more than 1.18 billion people, or three quarters of the population, in eight countries subsist on less than $2 a day (World Bank). Without urgent, inclusive government response, the poor of South Asia will sink further into poverty and malnutrition, with long-term negative consequences for growth and development in the region and globally.
The hardship has fallen most heavily upon women and children, people living in poverty, and the socially marginalized. Women and children under 5 are most at risk because they do not have the assets or resources to cope with shocks. The crisis threatens to overturn the progress that countries have made towards reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Read the report "A Matter of Magnitude - The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Women and Children in South Asia" by clicking here
