Hope for the World: Millennium Development Goals

In 2000 leaders all around the world define 8 goals called Millenium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015. These MDGs are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and precise development goals the world has ever agreed, they provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for dealing with extreme poverty in its many dimensions. The report contains goals and targets on different issues such as income poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and the Global Partnership for Development.

So… What are the Millennium Development Goals?

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The Millennium Development Goals Report is the most comprehensive MDG evaluation. It is based on a set of data prepared by over twenty organizations both within and outside the United Nations system. We will be focused on how much progress is Northern Africa making in every of these goals so far, in the meanwhile it is worth to follow a graphical Illustration of progress and prospects in Africa

 

Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day

Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 indicates that the region is very close to achieve the target of cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015, since the rate has been reduced from 5% to 3%. Progress towards the goal of eradication of hunger is also obvious from trends in the proportion of children under age five who are undernourished, with a reduction to almost half of its 1990 level, from 10 to only 6 per cent in 2006, but overall progress in reducing hunger might now be destabilized by recent worldwide increases in food prices.

 

Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education

Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

In education, the region is now almost on par with the richest countries – with 94% of children in primary school. This progress in education has also made strides in reducing the gender gap, with a ratio of 90 girls enrolled per 95 boys in 2009, and if progress is sustained, the region will achieve parity in primary education as in Goal 3.

 

Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015

Despite the overall advance on primary school enrolment, there is still a significant gender gap. There is a poor record on improving gender equality and empowering women.

Globally, women have more income-earning opportunities than ever before, but Northern Africa is one area where the region has not shown any progress. Women in the region held only 20 per cent of paid jobs outside of agriculture, and this percentage has remained largely unchanged since 1990 at one of the lowest percentages in the world, only 19%.

At the political level, women in the region have been able to secure higher representation in parliament, from 3% of seats in 2000 to 12% in 2011, but this rate remains among the lowest in the world.

 

Goal 4 Reduce child mortality

Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the underfive mortality rate

Reducing child deaths, great advance has been made, from the 1990 rate of 80 deaths of children under five per 1,000 births, to 28 per 1,000 in 2009, sufficient for the region to be very close to the target of reducing mortality by two thirds by 2015. Progress is mainly due to the large coverage of vaccination for measles, an important child killer, at 94% in 2009.

 

Goal 5 Improve maternal health

Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Progress on maternal health is good in the region, the rate of mothers who die in childbirth remains relatively high at 82 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2008, quite close to the target of reducing by three-quarters the level of 230 deaths observed in 1990. The impact of efforts to reduce maternal deaths is also indicated by the larger number of deliveries attended by skilled health care personnel. Attended deliveries increased from 51 per cent of all deliveries in 1990 to 79 per cent in 2009.

 

Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

HIV is not a problem in Northern Africa since the incidence rate* (number of new HIV infections per year per 100 people aged 15-49) is 0.01, meaning that only 1 adult out of 10.000 were newly infected that year. Treatment for HIV and AIDS has expanded quickly, from 10% in 2004 to 25% in 2009 of population living with HIV who is receiving antiretroviral treatment. The incidence of malaria and other major diseases are also decreasing.

 

Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability

Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

South America and Africa saw the largest net losses of forest areas between 2000 and 2010.

Regarding water resources, Northern Africa, have far exceeded the threshold of 75%, meaning that its water resources are no longer sustainable. However, the region has improved access to safe drinking water and has also made progress in providing toilets, latrines or other forms of improved sanitation to the population, and has already reached the safe sanitation target.

 

Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development

Address the special needs of the least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states

Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system

Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt

In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Globally, aid to developing countries is at a record high, but falls short of promises made in 2005, in fact, preliminary estimates show that Africa will receive only about $11 billion out of the $25 billion increase promised, due mainly to the underperformance of some European donors that give large shares of their aid to Africa.

Regarding technology, nowadays, the world is increasingly interconnected through mobile, high-speed communications and two thirds of the world’s population has yet to gain access to the Internet

General speaking, Northern Africa has made notable strides in improving the health, education, and standard of living of its people. These countries remain on track to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline, however they also face a number of challenges, including social and economic gaps between rich and poor, high youth unemployment and persistent gender differentials whereas the region’s successes may now be threatened by the changed economic climate.

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