Suchergebnisse

The MDGs has been carved out of the UN Millennium Declaration adopted in the fifty-fifth session of the UN General Assembly in September, 2000. Significantly, the MDGs has a bias towards health, education and empowerment. This could be construed as a positive move in international policy as far as the development agenda is concerned. But a closer look at the strategies show that there are several roadblocks towards achieving these goals. The major constraint is the lack of reliable data in developing countries for planning public health programmes. This results in an element of uncertainty and leads to unrealistically high targets which could distort the already fragile health systems in several countries. The selective approach could also spiral intensive drives which might further erode the primary health care system as has happened with the attempt to eradicate polio. The alternative, therefore, is to evolve longer-term, broader, system-based interventions to address the health concerns in the MDGs.

The possible effect of Government Consumption (a component of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) on attainment of the hunger Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) was analyzed by evaluating the effect of macroeconomic, social, demographic and policy variables on average undernourished population. Eighty-four developing countries with data available on undernourished population were included in an ecological study. Regression models were applied to explore possible determinants of Undernourished between 1990 and 2004 and consequent achievement of the projected 2004 MDG1. In 2004, 1.4% of the overall undernourished population in the studied countries [70.16 million people] was in excess of the projected level required to meet MDG1. The multiple linear regression showed significant associations between Undernourished and poverty levels, the Gini Index, rural population and Government Consumption. The multiple logistic regression showed significant associations between achievement of projected 2004 MDG1 levels and Government Consumption and the Gini Index. The significant associations between Undernourished and Government Consumption suggest that the effects of GDP components on social conditions call for more thorough research and that policymakers such as governments and international financial institutions need to ensure that changes in distributive and redistributive policies do not negatively affect the possibility of achieving MDG1.

Podeu consultar la versió en castellà a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/111605 ; Podeu consultar la versió en francès a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/111608

Ten years after the Millennium Summit, and only five years before the deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), progress towards MDG 5 -- a 75% reduction in global maternal mortality -- is most behind schedule. Adapted from the source document.