UN Millennium Development Goals Annual Report: A Glimmer of Hope For Ending World Poverty
UN Millennium Development Goals Annual Report: A Glimmer of Hope For Ending World Poverty
The UN MDG report has spelled positive news for those who are looking for the end to world poverty. As per the report, India is still combating poverty, child and maternal deaths. Several key global targets have been met yet more sustained effort is needed for covering disparities by the deadline of 2015.
The MDG Report 2014 launched by UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon has indicated that many global MDG targets on the reduction of poverty and the increase in access to potable drinking water have been achieved. Positive developments have also been noted on fronts such as improving the lives of slum dwellers and achievement of gender parity in primary schools have also been met.
More goals are also within reach as per the 2015 target date according to the report, if current trends continue. The world may even surpass MDG targets on HIV, TB and Malaria. The present report is a global scorecard on the efforts to achieve 8 mostly anti-poverty goals agreed upon by world leaders at the 2000 UN Summit.
But all is not well when it comes to child and maternal mortality as well as access to sanitation. Despite major achievements by the year 2015, reduction of child and maternal mortality as well as improving access to sanitation are far from reached.
Ban also said that there have been uneven achievements between goals and among and within regions and countries and between population groups. Unless imbalances are addressed through focused interventions, certain targets will not be met in key areas such as reduction of child and maternal mortality, universal education and environmental sustainability. A majority of people residing in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are living on less than 1.25 dollars per day. What is dismal for India is that one-third of the globe's 1.2 billion extreme poor are living in India alone.
India also has the biggest number of deaths of children under 5. In 2012, more than 1. million children died before reaching their fifth birthday. Southern Asia has made good progress in the reduction of child deaths by halving the under-five mortality rate. However, 1 in 3 deaths still continue to occur in this region.
The material mortality ratio in developing countries at 230 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births in 2013 was 14 times higher than that of developed regions. The latter recorded 16 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births in 2013. One third of global maternal deaths are in India and Nigeria.
with an additional two billion people gaining access to an improved sanitation facility, it seems unlikely that the MDG target of 75 per cent coverage will be met by 2015. Open defecation is another problem which has not been countered effectively in many developing nations. With enough initiative, these gaps can be addressed. The need for bold target setting has been emphasised by developmental expert Jeffrey Sachs in this context.
