Ethiopia tops list of African nations improving quality of life

by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) on Nov 4th 2010 at 2:00PM

Ethiopia suffers from a bad image thanks to the war and famine of the 1980s. As my series ontravel in Ethiopia showed, however, this is a land of friendly people, beautiful nature, and fascinating historic sites. Infrastructure is slowly improving and the Ethiopians are making serious efforts to boost education, access to clean drinking water, and other improvements to the quality of life.

These efforts have been recognized in the UN's 2010 Human Development Report. It ranked Ethiopia as number 11 in the world for improving human development since 1970, the highest ranking in Africa. The report was prepared by the United Nations Development Programme and measures progress in health, education, income, gender equality, and other areas. Researchers then formulate a "human development index" (HDI) for 135 countries.

Other high-ranking African nations include Botswana (14th), Benin (18th) and Burkina Faso (21st). All of these countries and some others have done especially well in the past ten years. Only looking at the past decade, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda all come out in the global top ten.

One of the biggest areas of improvement was in education. Literacy has almost tripled in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past 40 years to 65 percent. Also, life expectancy is up and infant mortality is down.

Sadly, not all the news is good. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were the only three countries in the world where quality of life actually went down.

Good news for Ethiopia is good news to travelers too. While the country is still an adventure travel destination, it's not as rugged as many people think. I spent two months there and my wife spent three weeks, and in all that time we never got sick. Chalk one up for good sanitation and clean water! Also, Ethiopia scores well of gender equality, which meant that, unlike some countries we've been to, my wife didn't get harassed by obnoxious guys. Good education meant we met lots of people who spoke English and wanted to improve it by chatting with us. Improved infrastructure meant there were more paved roads along our route than there were ten years ago.

When it comes to improvements in a country's Human Development Index everybody benefits, even people who don't live there!

BBC apology over Band Aid money reports

The BBC has apologised to Band Aid over reports claiming millions of pounds raised by the charity for famine relief in Ethiopia had been used to buy arms.Continue reading the main story

A report on World Service's Assignment in March claimed large sums of charity money had been diverted by rebels.

Although the report did not directly link Band Aid, other BBC outlets suggested its money had been involved.

The corporation said it apologised unreservedly for the "misleading and unfair impression" which was created.

The original investigation by the BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, included claims that substantial amounts of aid from Western government and charities went into rebel-held areas of Tigray province in 1985 and was used to buy weapons.

In a complaint to the BBC, The Band Aid Trust said the programme and subsequent coverage by other outlets including Radio 4, BBC News and the BBC News website gave the impression most of the money raised by the charity had been diverted.

'Unusual lapse in standards'

After an investigation by the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit, the corporation concluded there was no evidence relating to money raised by Band Aid or Live Aid, and statements alluding to the fact should not have been broadcast.

The BBC also apologised to Band Aid Trustee Bob Geldof for implying he declined to be interviewed "because he thought the subject too sensitive to be discussed openly".

In response, Mr Geldof said: "This was an unusual lapse in standards by the broadcaster and, most critically, the World Service.

Continue reading the main story

"It was Michael Buerk's frontline reports for the BBC from Ethiopia which prompted me to act and establish Band Aid in the first place and I recognise the important journalistic and humanitarian role the BBC has played in our story.

"We welcome the BBC's apologies and hope that the public corrections can begin to repair some of the appalling damage done, and move forward."

In a statement, the BBC said it regretted the error and "accepts we should have been more explicit in making it clear that the allegations did not relate specifically to Band Aid".

"Assignment did not make the allegation that relief aid provided by Band Aid was diverted. However the BBC acknowledges that this impression could have been taken from the programme," it said.

"We also acknowledge that some of our related reporting of the story reinforced this perception."

It added: "We note that the ruling validates the main thrust of the programme's journalism; that there was evidence from a number of sources that the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front had diverted money intended for famine relief and that some of this was spent on weapons."

On-air apologies will be made on all the BBC outlets that broadcast the claims.