Global Study On Child Poverty And Disparities (PDF) - Social Policy ...

Education trends are more positive, suggesting
that a decline in the net enrolment ratio in primary
school in the 1990s was reversed after 2000, and
that there was an increase in the proportion of
students reaching year eight. There also appear
to have been large increases in the literacy rates
of young adults. Gender equity trends are also
positive, showing increases in the ratio of girls to
boys in secondary and tertiary education.
There also appear to be improvements in relation
to child mortality, with the under-five mortality rate
and the infant mortality rate each nearly halving
since 1990, and with substantial increases in
immunisation rates against measles. Maternal
mortality trends also show an improvement, with
the mortality ratio falling even if the number of
maternal deaths increased. Both the proportion
of births attended by skilled personnel and the
contraceptive prevalence rate appear to have
improved, and the teenage birth rate is falling.
There also have been dramatic improvements
in combating malaria, both in relation to its
incidence and the associated death rate, as
well as in the proportion of children sleeping
under treated bed nets. Finally, there have been
substantial improvements in the percentage of
households using improved water sources, and
even higher increases in the proportion using
improved sanitation facilities.
While many social outcomes have improved,
it is clearly not possible to ascribe these
improvements solely to the better economic
performance over the past seven or eight years.
In part this is due to limitations of the available
data – for example, the lack of reliable trend
data on household incomes and expenditures
means that it is not possible to see whether the
aggregate trends in national income have been
mirrored in improvements in household incomes,
particularly at lower income levels.
Moreover, some improvements (for example,
the increase in literacy rates of 15- to 24-yearolds
and the improvements in infant and child
mortality) were more rapid between 1990 and
2000 than subsequently – that is, when rates
of economic growth were lower. This suggests
that policy changes could have been more
influential in this earlier period. It is plausible that
improvements in some of these indicators could
be expected to slow down over time, and that
achieving further improvements will become more
challenging. Having said this, the fact that recent
economic trends have been favourable and a
wide range of social outcomes have improved
over the same or longer periods is grounds
for cautious optimism. Similarly, the fact that
telecommunications reforms appear likely to have
dramatically reduced information deprivation
in a relatively short time demonstrates that
policy reform can have a substantial impact on
deprivation.
Provincial disparities
Preceding sections have made it clear that
regional differences make a major contribution
to disparities in child well-being in Vanuatu.
Given the significance of location as a source
of disparities, it is worthwhile bringing together
as many dimensions of well-being as possible
and summarising these findings. Table 4.2
reviews the relative performance of different
provinces. The ratio is calculated based on the
Vanuatu national average Figure which is set at
one. This allows us to understand how better or
worse each province performs in relation to the
national average. Provinces in which indicators
are significantly worse than average (1.5 times
the average or more) are shaded in red, average
results (between 0.5 and 1.5 times the average)
in blue, and better than average results (less
than half the average) in green. All rankings are
relative to the indicators chosen and give the
same weight to each indicator (for example, the
proportion of the child population below 50 per
cent of median income is treated in the same way
as the proportion who are severely underweight).
Torba does significantly worse than the Vanuatu
average in 11 of the 22 indicators, and Tafea
does worse than average for nine indicators.
Penama does worse than average in five
indicators and Sanma in four, with no other
province or location doing so poorly. However,
Torba does better than average for three
indicators, while Tafea does better than average
in only one category.
Malampa performs around the average or better
in all categories, and overall appears to have the
best outcomes for children. Shefa also performs
relatively well in nearly all categories, except the
proportion of children living below $1.25 a day.
Luganville and Port Vila also perform better than
average in many dimensions, but Luganville does
very poorly in two categories (food and health)
and Port Vila in three (regionally disaggregated
poverty, food deprivation and severe stunting).
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