Millennium Development Goals, Essay Example

Introduction

The Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, involves an initiative of the United Nation that are contained in eight goals for global development whose establishment was arrived at during the 2000 UN Millennium Summit adopted as a result of UN Millennium Declaration. The premise of this paper is an analysis of the extent to which the Millennium Development Goals have been a success with particular interest in reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health. Improvements in maternal health play a significant role in the reduction of poverty and child mortality in the society. In 2000, the entire 189 member states of UN together with 23 global organizations met and agreed on some common goals set to be achieved by the year 2015 (Lozano, et al, 1139-1165).

• Elimination of acute poverty along with hunger
• Realization of universal primary education
• Promotion of gender equality as well as women empowerment
• Reduction of child mortality
• Enhancement of maternal health
• HIV/AIDS eradication, malaria as well as other diseases
• Environmental sustainability
• Development of a global partnership in development

According to the Millennium Development Goals, the World Bank has a role to play in assisting women to overcome such problems. Due to the intervention of the Millennium Development Goals in this regard, there has been a significant decline in maternal deaths from 1990 to 2013 by a factor of 45% (Maret, 29-55). Considerable progress has been recorded in majority of countries and regions with sub-Saharan Africa being the biggest beneficiary. The target set for reduction of maternal mortality in Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015 and despite the achievements recorded so far, reaching this target seems to be difficult (Maret, 29-55). Out of the set goals in the entire Millennium Development Goals, maternal health has the lowest achievements. About 800 women die every day globally as a result of complications that are attributed to pregnancy as well as at childbirth (Maret, 29-55). The greater number of such deaths, 99% to be precise, has been recorded in the developing countries. Majority of the nations that are characterized by low income among its citizens are associated with high fertility rates as well as high maternal mortality rates. This is consequently the driving force to high rates of infant mortality as well as gender inequality. Over 25% of young girls together with aged women who get pregnant in sub-Saharan Africa are unable to access the services of timely family planning ((Strauss & Thomas, 766-817). The numbers of unplanned pregnancies are escalating coupled with HIV proliferation as well as an upsurge of sexually transmitted diseases.

Consequently, improved health care services are seen as a priority concern for women. In response to this therefore, the World Bank has taken the initiatives of offering a broader access to functional as well as effective healthcare systems to women and making sure that the health workers offering such services are adequately motivated and properly skilled. More support to infrastructures and innovations is at the center of World Bank investments in this field considering efficient financing for enhancing maternal health (Thaddeus & Maine, 1091-1110).  These investments have been critical in propping up the programs of family planning as well as reproductive health, prevention of other diseases, nutrientive initiatives, facility-based deliveries as well as innovative approaches of offering additional assistance to the women.

The promotion of health among women is achieved through the following courses of action:

• Offering education to girls as well as boys
• Efforts for reduction of teenage pregnancies
• Educating women on advantages of family size control as well as spacing their children
• Enhancement of maternal nutrition
• Making sure that delivery attendants are properly trained and availing emergency as well as comprehensive ante-natal, obstetric as well as post-partum care.

In some nations, impressive achievements have been made in the achievement of health related goals as targeted by Millennium Development Goals. However, a number of countries have not performed to the expectation. The countries that have documented poor progress with regard to Millennium Development Goals on health issues are characterized by economic hardships, HIV/AIDS prevalence and other types of conflicts (Hulme, 119).

Reduction of child mortality was the goal number four in the Millennium Development Goals. The set target in this respect involved a two-thirds reduction of mortality rate for children under the age of five years between the year 1990 and 2015 (Mohindra & Béatrice, 543-567). On international context, this goal has reached significant milestone because the progress achieved is evident. Many countries have achieved substantial gains in the reduction of child mortality for children under the age of 5 years. The number of children who were reported dead in 1990 was 12.6 million ((Lawn, Cousens  & Zupan, 891-900). This number reduced by about half in 2012 with which had 6.6 million reported deaths for the children under the age of 5 years (Maret, 29-55). Statistics indicate that, this figure a decline in an equivalent of 90 deaths per every 1000 people in 1990 to 48 deaths out of 1000 people in 2012 (Vandemoortele, 1-21). This translates to a decline of 47% and this can be considered to be an impressive development. There is also a remarkable decline in the global rate of child mortality over the past few years. During the period 1990 to 1995, the annual rate was 1.2% and this changed to 3.9% over the period 2005 to 2012 (Bustreo, et al., 113-178) However, although these figures indicate remarkable improvement in reduction of child mortality, the global achievement is likely to meet the target as set out in the Millennium Development Goals which involved a reduction by two-thirds in the child mortality rate from 1990 to 2015 (Grown, 82–86). Most of the nations have opted for high echelons in immunization coverage. About 66% of the entire member states achieved coverage of up to 90% in 2012 (Grown, 82–86). The immunization coverage for measles reached up to 84% globally in 2012 for the children of between the ages of 12 and 23 months. The estimated deaths attributed to measles declined by 78% in 2012 from a total of 562000 to 122000 across the world (Grown, 82–86). Again, this one can be considered to be a significant achievement with regard to the set targets in Millennium Development Goals on reduction of child mortality rates.

The goal number five in the Millennium Development Goals addresses the issues on improvements of maternal health. Target 5A involved a reduction of maternal mortality rate by a factor of three quarters between the years 1990 to 2015 (Thaddeus & Maine, 1091-1110). Target 5B involved achievement of universal accessibility of reproductive health services by the year 2015. It is remarkable that, the rate of maternal deaths has been marked with significant reduction. In 1990, maternal deaths were documented at 523 000 which went down to 289 000 in 2013 (Lander, 133-145).However, the set target at the Millennium Development Goals has not been achieved and the recorded rate is below half of the set target of a three quarters diminution in the ratio of mortality between the years 1990 to 2015 (World Health Organization, 5). The achievement of a significant reduction in the rate of maternal deaths, it is prudent to avail reproductive health care services of extremely high quality coupled with effective interventions. Most women are able to access contraceptives for their birth control. 63% of married females or actively involved in consensual union in 15 to 49 age bracket used contraceptives in 2011 (Vandemoortele, 1-21). On the other hand, 12% of women expressed their intentions of postponing or halting their childbearing without the use of contraceptives. The number of females who could access antenatal care services for at least a single time during their pregnancy accounted for approximately 81% over 2006 to 2013 time period (Thaddeus & Maine, 1091-1110). However, according to the recommendations, over 4 visits are adequate which translated to a decline of this percentage to 56% (Vandemoortele, 255-371). During delivery, it is recommended that the women are attended by qualified personnel, a condition that is critical for the reduction of neonatal, peri-natal as well as maternal deaths. The percentage of mothers who could access these services was over 90% in 3 regions out of the total six under WHO.  It is however recommended to enhance coverage in some of the regions including Africa whereby, this figure stagnated at below 50% (Vandemoortele, 1-21).

Conclusion

The achievement of this objective is based on the effectiveness of governments to invest in improved maternal health which translates to the enhancement of the health of the mother as well as the entire family. This also increases the level of attendance of women to their places of work and consequently the financial aspects of the family are taken care of while the economic well being in entire communities as well as states are greatly enhanced. When pregnancies are left untreated, the possibility of birth complication increases leading to a high number of disabled women which consequently undercut their potentials of propping up their families.

Works cited

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