The Millenium Devolpment Goals and their current progress
The Millennium Development Goals: How are they doing right now?The Millennium Development goals were a list of 8 objectives that, by the terms set by the founding countries, must be met by 2015. The MDG`s were set in 2000 and now we are presently 2/3rd`s until the project is officially over. The consequences for failure are insignificant to nothing and although countries could ignore the goals it would send a terrible message if a country refuses the most helpful and progressive international project most likely ever made. The MDG`s listed in order below: Within each of the 8 goals there are terms for completion as for the most part the goal must be improved by 50%. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and HungerAchieve Universal Primary EducationPromote Gender Equality and Empower WomenReduce Child MortalityImprove Maternal HealthCombat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other DiseasesEnsure Environmental SustainabilityDevelop a Global Partnership for Development So how far exactly is the world into solving each of these problems: (keep in mind that all results start at 1990)(Results on last page)(We will only go up to 6)1: The first MDG is considered a one of the main priorities for the UN and so far the objective seems feasible as some countries have already met their
goals and most are on a dramatic decrease for poverty and hunger. There is still though some countries who are far from completion, but, on of the main worries for the UN is that they fear that slower economic growth and rising food prices could reverse recent progress in the next few years. Results can be seen in Fig. 12: This MDG talks of the proposed increase of global education. Most of the results for this MDG are taken from Literacy rate data or primary school attendance (fig. 2). Attendance data based on household surveys show that the number of ...
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goals and most are on a dramatic decrease for poverty and hunger. There is still though some countries who are far from completion, but, on of the main worries for the UN is that they fear that slower economic growth and rising food prices could reverse recent progress in the next few years. Results can be seen in Fig. 12: This MDG talks of the proposed increase of global education. Most of the results for this MDG are taken from Literacy rate data or primary school attendance (fig. 2). Attendance data based on household surveys show that the number of children of primary school age who are out of school has declined markedly in recent years, from 115 million in 2002 to 93 million in 2005–2006. This is substantial progress, and many countries are close to delivering universal primary education.3: MDG 3 is all about tackling sexism in the world and finding out ways on how to empower women. Mainly this means that women should be made equal to men. When looking at this, people tend to look at the amount of girls in school compared to boys (Fig. 2). So far the majority of countries are increasing with only a tiny minority where the results are actually going the opposite of that is to be achieved.4: MDG 4 is all about reducing child mortality which is a huge problem in Sub Saharan Africa and south Asia. So far the results are skewed by a reasonably large amount of countries that have made little to no progress to meet the 2015 goal. There are some success stories such as Thailand who has reduced its child mortality rate by half, another top performer is Egypt who went from C.M. 90 to C.M. 23.5: This MDG reflects many on improving maternal health as this is a huge problem in, once again, Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. Countries are on there their way to completing this goal but, the two former regions are advancing at a very slow rate (see fig 5). 6: MDG 6 is all about the sickness spreading through the world for example; pneumonia, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and diarrhoea (those four alone are the cause of more 40% of the child mortalities). These sicknesses have wreaked havoc and spread causes across numerous regions and must be stopped.Now that we have are merely 5 years away from the UN`s set deadline for the Millennium Development Goals the rush is on and in at least 2or 3 years I personally beleave that the spotlight will be set on this project and then that`s when the results will go soaring. But, I hope that the world doesn`t rely on that. Anyways at the rate most countries are going the majority of the goals will be completed but, that’s not all the goals nor is it ever country, and until that is achieved, then the UN will have succeeded. As Ban Ki-Moon* said during his 2010 UN speech on the current progress of the MDG ``We must stay true. True to our identity as an International Committee; Build on a foundation of Solidarity. True to our commitment to end the dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.‘‘ *Current Secretary General of the United Nations These graphs all show the amount of the world that live on 1 or 2 dollars a day throughout the world. The main thing that were looking for here is that each region has a projected decrease of % on 1 dollar a day and that it goes below the 2015 target for that region. Most regions will achieve this but, there are some regions (Sub-Saharan Africa) that will probably not achieve, not at this rate. But, keep in that these results look at regions, not countries. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen an average proportion of population going hungry increase as it went from 29% to 75%.The literacy rate increase seen in this graph actually shows more than just a global increase in the percent of literates. It also shows how MDG 3 is working out right now as well. The graph shows that the literacy rate is increasing fast but, that sadly in some regions the amount of literate women is much less than that of men. The only bright side to this though is that the increase in literate women is rising faster than that of men. Notable exception is Latin America and Caribbean, the only region where there are more literate women than men.So far we see the countries in the world that need the most work, most of which are in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The fact that there are four modern day countries that still have a higher than 200 mortality rates is just disappointing and appalling. This graph shows the amount of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by region. If a country crosses the 2015 target (orange line) it has completed this goal and as you can see there is not one region on this list that has passed the line. SS Africa is on the list again as furthest away to completion but, this timed joined with the CIS countries. While there is a decline it is not nearly declining enough to reach the set target at that rate.Works Cited Correspondent, Marcus Diplomatic. "BBC News - Ban Ki-moon Says UN Millennium Goals 'can Be Met'" BBC - Homepage. 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11375847>.MDG Interactive." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/mdg/interactive#/core>. "Millennium Development Goals." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://www.amnestyusa.org/demand-dignity/fight-poverty-with-human-rights/millennium-development-goals/page.do?id=1041190>. -Jerome
