Another clear tendency is that in the main destination countries, most female migrant household workers are mothers. During the second half of the decade a number of countries launched systematic efforts to enhance social programmes, especially those aimed at fighting poverty. This was a first turning point in social spending patterns. However, the pick-up in social spending (to a certain degree, in counterpoint to economic trends) has been primarily due to policies that were implemented over time to deal with external shocks: (i) rising food and fuel prices in 2008 and spiralling export commodity prices starting in 2003, (ii) the global financial crisis, the worst of which ran from late 2008 to the end of 2009, and (iii) more recently, international uncertainty and slower economic growth worldwide.