These themes were among many discussed during a recent conference at UPU headquarters in Berne, Switzerland.
“Because of this rapid and uneven shift in population distribution, governments are often unable to identify or locate individuals and places for services,” said UPU director general Bishar A. Hussein at the October conference.
Sanitation, water and electricity are among the services that often require an address.
Hussein added that the consequences of inadequate addressing infrastructure include the “official non-existence of individuals”.
The results can be especially problematic for the poorest and most vulnerable, who are often those excluded from addressing.
For example, these individuals face higher risks in cases of natural disaster or the outbreak of disease, since intervention is often stymied by the absence of addressing.
On a practical level, a lack of good addressing makes it difficult to provide postal services. For the UPU’s part, it has created a tool that enables mailers to ensure that the addressing data they use at the level of the postcode meets international address validation needs, thus reducing the volume of non-deliverable mail.
The UPU’s Universal POST*CODE Database contains raw postcode datafrom across the world, converted into a uniform format. This databaseenables users to find postcode data at town, locality, street and delivery-point levels, depending on the particular country’s system. This facilitates easy-checking of postal addressing data globally.
Stopping Ebola
A powerful illustration came from Liberia of how the lack of standardized addressing hindered emergency services during the deadly Ebola outbreak, said Frederick Norkeh, Liberia’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.
However, in a community where houses had been numbered as part of a 2013 pilot project, contact tracing - the locating of those who were in contact with someone sick with the virus - was “effective and efficient,” said Norkeh.
He called on international support for countries that have scarce resources to improve inadequate addressing infrastructure.
“Technical and financial support are needed from the global community in favour of countries that are yet to implement addressing programmes,” said Norkeh, who is also Liberia’s Postmaster General.
Exchange of ideas
The conference, which took place on 26-27 October, served as a chance for Posts and external partners to exchange ideas about how to overcome obstacles and reap the socio-economic benefits of addressing infrastructure.
The need for such an exchange was stressed by Mohamed Saleh ben Taher Benten, chairman and CEO of Saudi Post — which sponsored and chaired the conference.
In his speech, he noted that addressing promotes economic development, including through electronic government services and e-commerce, calling addressing a “fundamental human right.”
Groups represented at panels and hands-on sessions included international organizations, government agencies, private companies and postal operators.
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