Happy World Toilet Day!

Posted by admin on November 19, 2009

The Australian Greens say World Toilet Day is an opportunity to highlight the importance of world-wide sanitation.

“It is shocking that 2.5 billion people worldwide are without access to proper sanitation. This risks their health, strips their dignity, and kills 1.8 million people, most of which are children, every year,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“Today is World Toilet Day, which some think is funny, but the number of deaths and suffering as a result of poor sanitation is a sobering reminder that more is needed to reduce suffering around the world.”

“Lack of proper sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of malnutrition and infection, causing diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid and worm infections that kill 5,000 children each day.”

“Clean toilets contribute to poverty eradication by protection one’s health and ability to work. Safe collection and treatment of human waste and other various wastewaters protects drinking water sources and eco-systems, creating clean and healthy living environments, particularly in urban areas,” said Senator Siewert.

“Australia’s contribution to sanitation projects in the developing world should be increased. By next year it is expected to increase to $250m, however, this is still below our fair share – Australia’s calculated fair share to sanitation in the Millennium Development Goals is estimated to be $350m.”

“The current sanitation problem in Timor-Leste illustrates this point. Diarrhoea is a leading cause of under-five child deaths in Timor-Leste, accounting for 22% of the total 5,000 children that die every year. Access to sanitation in Timor-Leste is estimated at 41% and the country is perilously short of meeting the MDG target for sanitation. The sanitation improvements that will dramatically improve child mortality and general community health in Timor-Leste are relatively cheap and easily implemented.”

The Senate yesterday passed a Greens motion recognising the importance of World Toilet Day, and calling on the government to invest in foreign aid projects aimed at improving sanitation levels.

“The Senate has backed my calls for the Australian Government to play a constructive, proactive role at the upcoming Global Framework for Action on Water and Sanitation meeting in Washington April 2010. This is the opportunity for global support of sanitation policy leadership,” concluded Senator Siewert.

Greens rally in support of midwives

Posted by admin on November 9, 2009

The Australian Greens have put their support behind rallies being held around Australia today in support of the rights of Australian midwives.

The Greens support the rights of women to choose safe homebirths with the assistance of a midwife and have been working to strengthen the government’s midwives legislation.

But the government’s amendment to their bill, to be debated next week, requires midwives to work at all times in formal collaborative arrangements with doctors as a condition of insurance. Doctors will be able to veto these arrangements effectively giving the medical profession the ability to control which midwives can be insured and register.

“We find this completely unacceptable as it may erode rather than expand choices as doctors make decisions about what types of care to support,” Australian Greens health spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“The Greens are deeply concerned about this amendment as it undermines the role of midwives and the capacity for women to choose a home birth. We are currently consulting widely around options for amendments to this legislation.

“We will continue to fight for greater choice and less interventionist maternity care and support the Australian Private Midwives Association’s call for the government to make sure options for choice are not lost in the process of this reform,” Senator Siewert said.

Read Australian College of Midwives media release here.