THE LONG ROAD TO THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2015

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger
Target: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who income is less than $1 a day

  • The recent increases in the price of food have had a direct and adverse effect on the poor. Poor people who do not produce their own food are the most severely hurt because a larger proportion of their expenditure is allocated to food. Higher food prices limit their ability to obtain not only food but also other essential goods and services, including education and health care. Most of the urban poor and the landless rural poor are in this position. Overall, higher food prices are expected to push many more people into absolute poverty, with estimates suggesting that the increase will be as many as 100 million (mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia).
  • Conflict leaves many displaced and impoverished
  • Low-paying jobs leave one in five developing country workers mired in poverty
  • Half the world's workforce toil in unstable, insecure jobs
  • Rising food prices threaten limited gains in alleviating child malnutrition

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

  • The number of children of primary school age who were out of school fell from 103 million in 1999 to 73 million in 2006.
  • Reaching poorer, more socially marginalised children who normally have less access to basic education is a major challenge.
  • Achieving universal primary education means more than full enrolment. It also encompasses quality education, meaning that all children who attend school regularly learn basic literacy and numeracy skills and complete primary school on time. The proportion of children in developing countries who have completed primary education rose from 79 per cent in 1999 to 85 in 2006.
  • For children to reach their full potential and countries to develop, the gains made in universal primary education must be replicated at the secondary level.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015

  • Despite impressive gains, girls account for 55 per cent of the out-of-school population.
  • Targeted action is needed to help girls from poor, rural areas stay in school.
  • Job opportunities open, but women often remain trapped in insecure, low-paid positions
  • Women's political participation is growing albeit slowly. Globally, as of January 2008, women reached a high of nearly 18 per cent.
  • Women are elected in greater proportional representation in electoral systems that include quotas.
  • Despite greater parliamentary participation, women are largely absent from the highest levels of governance. In January 2008, women accounted for 7 of the 1150 elected heads of state and 8 of the 192 heads of governments.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

  • In 2006, for the first time since mortality data have been gathered, annual deaths among children under 5 dipped below 10 million. Nevertheless, the death of millions of children from preventable causes each year is unacceptable. A child born in a developing country is over 13 times more likely to die within the first five years of life than a child born in an industrialised country.
  • Leading causes of childhood deaths - pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and measles are easily prevented through simple improvements in basic health services…
  • Thirty-seven per cent of under-five deaths occur in the first month of life and improved neonatal and maternal care could save countless newborns. Undernutrition is estimated to be an underlying cause in more than one third of all deaths in children under five.
  • Measles is one of the leading causes of child death among diseases can be prevented by a relatively inexpensive vaccine.

Goal 5: Improve maternal mortality
Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

  • Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high across much of the world. In 2005, more than 500,000 women died from treatable or preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths occurred in the developing regions, with sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia accounting for 86 per cent of them.
  • Little progress has been made in saving mothers' lives.
  • Skilled health workers at delivery are key to improving outcomes. The vast majority of maternal deaths and disabilities could be prevented through appropriate reproductive health services before, during and after pregnancy, and through life-saving interventions should complications arise. Attendance at delivery by skilled health personnel (doctors, nurses, midwives) is critical. In 2006, nearly 61 per cent of births in the developing world were attended by skilled health personnel, up from less than half in 1990. Coverage however remains low in Southern Asia (40 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (47 per cent).

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases
Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

  • An estimated 15.5 million women and 15.3 million men aged 15 and over were living with HIV worldwide in 2007, compared to 14.1 million and 13.8 million in 2001. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60 per cent adults living with HIV were women.
  • Prevention programmes are yielding results
  • Despite tremendous progress, use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets falls short of global targets
  • New malaria strategies are effective but under-utilised.
  • Halving the tuberculosis prevalence rate by 2015 is unlikely

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
Target: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
Target: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Target: To improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020

  • In 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes is abundantly clear that the climate is warming. Carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels accounts for more than half of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Marine areas and land conservation need greater attention.
  • Almost half of the world's population face a scarcity of water
  • More people are using improved sanitation but meeting the MDG target will require a redoubling of efforts
  • Though access to improved drinking water has expanded, nearly 1 billion do without
  • Simple, low-cost interventions could significantly improve the lives of many slum dwellers

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Target: Address the special needs of the least developed countries…
Target: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
Target: Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt
Target: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications
Development aid falls for the second year jeopardising commitments for 2010

  • Market access for most developing countries is little improved
  • Poor availability and high prices are barriers to access to essential drugs in developing countries
  • Mobile phones are expanding communications in developing countries.
  • Internet use is increasing rapidly, but the poorest regions lag behind.



















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