Millennium Development Goals: Progress and Further Development
Photo credits to ec.europa.eu
In 2000 worldleaders gathered at the United Nations to agree on a set of eight targets forinternational development. Since 2001, the United Nations agreed on a set ofeight targets for international development, which they called the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). Theyhave become the single most important organizing principle of the internationalcommunity’s fight against extreme poverty and disease.
As of April 2013,there were 1000 days left until the MDGs are meant to reach that goal.
On Friday, April5th, over 70 organizations marked the 1000-day countdown with a 1000-minute“digital media relay.” to address the questions of how far we have come sincethe MDGs were first established, what is left to be addressed, and what theglobal community can do to help. Through Twitter and Facebook chats, GoogleHangouts blog posts and more, millions of people came together from everycorner of the globe to celebrate global progress in eradicating extreme povertyand disease and press world leaders toclose the gap for those MDGs that haveyet to be achieved.
Some MDGs havealready been met: reducing the number of people living on less than $1.25/day by 50% was reached in 2005 –due especially to rapid economic growth in China and India.
The second MDG focuseson making education more accessible. Primary education in developing regions reached 90 percent in2010, up from 82% in 1999, which means more kids than ever are attendingprimary school. Gender gaps ineducation are disappearing—there are now more girls enrolled in primary schoolthan at any other time in human history.
In terms of health,HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and TB are at the heart of MDG 6 while the fighting against deadlychildhood illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia and measles is at the heart of MDG5. The fight against theseillnesses requires funding and an injection of new funds was needed.
The health relatedMDGs were the organizing principle around which these efforts coalesced. Theresults have been impressive. On Malaria, prevention strategies like indoorresidual spraying and long lasting insecticide treated bed nets have decreasedinfections by 17% globally since 2000 and the amount of deaths has decreased by25%. Access to HIV medicines in the developing world has also increased substantiallyto about half of all people in need today. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done a the goal callsfor universal access to HIV/AIDS medicines.
The set of goals thatneed the most help is related to maternal health and maternal mortality. MDG 5sets a target of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters and achievinguniversal access to reproductive health. Both goals, sadly, are far from theirtargets, and in many ways these targets are the single most important of allthe MDGs. Investing in women and girls can have profoundly positive economicand social results.
Surely, theexperience over the last 13 years has demonstrated thatcombining some of thegreat moral challenges of our time with political and financial backing canyield impressive results. The UN system is now exploring ways to build on thesuccesses of the MDGs and on the momentum of the next 1000 days to design a newglobal development agenda once the MDGs expire.
Sources: http://www.diplomaticourier.com/news/topics/global-health/1453-sprinting-to-the-millennium-development-goals-finish-line
http://www.unfoundation.org/