The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived from this Declaration. Each MDG has targets set for 2015 and indicators to monitor progress from 1990 levels.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs290/en/What have the millennium development goals achieved? The UN has called the MDGs ‘the most successful anti-poverty movement in history’, but what progress has been made on each of the goals?
The millennium development goals have targeted eight key areas – poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, disease, the environment and global partnership. Each goal is supported by 21 specific targets and more than 60 indicators. Below, we’ve looked at what has been achieved on some of the targets within each goal.
MDG 1: The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day has been reduced from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015, although the target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger was narrowly missed.
MDG 2: Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed, with the net enrolment rate increasing from 83% in 2000 to 91% this year.
MDG 3: About two-thirds of developing countries have achieved gender parity in primary education.
MDG 4: The child mortality rate has reduced by more than half over the past 25 years – falling from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births – but it has failed to meet the MDG target of a drop of two-thirds.
MDG 5: The global maternal mortality ratio has fallen by nearly half – short of the two-thirds reduction the MDGs aimed for.
MDG 6: The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids by 2015 has not been met, although the number of new HIV infections fell by around 40% between 2000 and 2013.
MDG 7: Some 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water since 1990, so the target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water was achieved in 2010 – five years ahead of schedule. However, 663 million people across the world still do not have access to improved drinking water.
MDG 8: Between 2000 and 2014, overseas development assistance from rich nations to developing countries increased by 66% in real terms, and in 2013 reached the record figure of $134.8bn (£80.3bn).
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/datablog/2015/jul/06/what-millennium-development-goals-achieved-mdgsHealth in the post-2015 United Nations development agendaIn September 2015, more than 150 world leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York to formally adopt the new post-2015 development agenda – a global plan of action for the next 15 years.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new agenda.
The SDGs seek to build on the MDGs and complete what these did not achieve, particularly on improving equity to meet the needs of women, children and the poorest, most disadvantaged people.
Under the new Agenda, the UN, WHO and all partner organizations recommit to the full realization of all the MDGs, in particular by providing focussed and scaled-up assistance to least-developed countries and other countries in special situations.
In addition, the SDGs aim to tackle emerging challenges including the growing impact of noncommunicable diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, and the changing social and environmental determinants that affect health, such as increasing urbanization, pollution and climate change.
An overarching health goal to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” is underpinned by 13 targets that cover a wide spectrum of WHO’s work. Almost all of the other 16 SDGs impact or are impacted by health.
http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/post2015/en/
