Millennium Development Goals Homework Help

Millennium Development Goals

The millennium development goals (MDGS) are development goals instituted globally and which are expected to be achieved by the year 2015. The 193 member states of the United Nations together with an estimate of 23 international organizations have embraced these goals (UN millennium Summit, n.d. a). The goals include the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, improvement of maternal health, promotion of environmental sustainability and eradication of extreme hunger and poverty. The other four are fighting disease epidemics, achievement of universal primary education, reducing child mortality rates and development of a global partnership for development. MDGs improve the economic and social conditions in the poorest countries in the universe hence encouraging development. The goals were formed in the millennium declaration that was produced by the United Nations. Every individual is entitled to the right of freedom, equality, dignity and basic standards of living as asserted in the declaration (WHO millennium goals, n.d. a). MDGs set targets and indicators with the aim of eradicating poverty and other objectives by 2015 consequently operationalizing the ideas stipulated in the declaration.
Discussion
The millennium development goals each have health related element and achievement of these goals would greatly improve global health. The first development goal’s target 1.C aims to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger globally between 1990 and 2015 (Understanding global health chapter 7, n.d. a). Eradication of hunger would improve children’s nutrition and consequently improve their health. Between 1990 and 2010 stunting in children below five years of age has decreased by 13% globally. An issue impeding the realization of the first MDG is unresponsive institutions and poor implementation. Benin for instance has a weak growth and unequal distribution of income which constrain the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty (WHO millennium goals, n.d. b).
The fourth millennium development goal purposes to reduce child mortality. Efforts such as improving newborn care have been implemented in order to realize this goal. Generally, the health of children is prioritized in this goal if their mortality is to be reduced. The death of approximately 3 million children below five years of age globally can be attributed to pneumonia and diarrhea (Understanding global health chapter 13, n.d. a). Instituting measures to prevent these diseases and to make treatment available to all infected children would greatly reduce these deaths and improve the health of children globally. Capacity constraints such as lack of professional personnel present a barrier to the achievement of this goal. Lack of inadequate resources and facilities in developing countries continues to prevail while children continue dying of diseases that could otherwise have been cured.
Global health will be improved significantly when the fifth development goal is achieved. Between 1990 and 2008, the number of women dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth went down by 34% (Understanding global health chapter 13, n.d. b). The annual rate of decline is however, less than the required rate in order to achieve the target by 2015. Between 2000 and 2010 more than half of women who were pregnant attended a minimum of four antenatal visits as recommended by the WHO. The efforts projected at improving maternal health will reduce the deaths arising from pregnancy complications, increase contraceptive use, and reduce pregnancy among adolescents. Lack of facilities, resources, and poor infrastructure are issues posing a problem to the goal of improving maternal health. Inaccessible areas such as rural areas are characterized by few births aided by health professionals and facilities and resources are scarce in such regions.
The sixth millennium goal is related to global health in that through combating malaria, HIV/AIDs and other diseases, the world population will reflect positive health status. The strategies put in place in this goal have led to 17% decline in the HIV infections worldwide between 2001 and 2009 (Understanding global health chapter 7, n.d. b). A major success in this particular aspect is the increased prevention of mother to baby HIV transmission. An estimate of 53% of the HIV positive pregnant women in 2009 in low- and middle- income countries had access to antiretroviral therapy thereby preventing them from transmitting HIV to their babies. Other diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria have also been addressed. In 1990 per every 100 000 people infected with TB, 30 of them died. Due to the efforts to combat diseases such as this, by 2009, the number of deaths had dropped to 20 people in the same sample (UN millennium goals, n.d. a). The global health stands to improve from the realization of this goal to combat HIV, malaria and other diseases. The constraint witnessed in the implementation of strategies in this goal is the lack of resources. Low income countries at present spend insufficiently on health. Annual spending on HIV/AIDS for instance still needs to be increased and donor spending on health increased fivefold.
Target 7.C in the seventh MDG purposes to reduce the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by half by 2015 (UN millennium goals, n.d. b). Lack of basic sanitation and access to safe drinking water has been associated with increased cases of diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, cholera and reduced immunity. It is important to reduce the people not able to access safe drinking water and basic sanitation in order to improve global health. The percentage of the world’s population with access to safe drinking water has been observed to increase by 10% (UN millennium goal, n.d. c). The annual rate of increase in low income countries is however, low and should be increased. There is also a gap between urban and rural areas that has to be reduced. Inadequate sewerage spreads infections such as trachoma, schistosomiasis, cholera, and viral hepatitis. Unprecedented global events such as the Global financial crisis have presented challenges in the MDGs such as this one. The economic strain felt by the governments as well as the citizens in these crises causes a decline in the funds allocated to improve basic sanitation and make safe drinking water accessible.
Target 8.E in the eight MDG illustrates the relation of the millennium goal to global health. The target is to cooperate with pharmaceutical companies in order to make affordable medicines in developing countries accessible (UN millennium summit, n.d. b). The availability of medicines in public health facilities has been found to be poor despite the fact that all countries publish an essential medicines list. The lack of medicines in public sector has led to patients going without drugs thereby elevating their medical conditions and in other cases the patients purchase the medicines in private sector outlets where they are extremely expensive. The health of these people therefore continues to deteriorate even after diagnosis because of the lack of affordable medicines. Making these medicines accessible would improve global health. Corrupt institutions and inadequate funds in low income countries are the issues most hindering the availability of drugs to patients.
Conclusion
The eight millennium goals are related to global health on a general sense. Taking a specific look into some targets in the individual goals illustrates the particular global health concerns addressed in the goals. The health related targets include making affordable medicines accessible in developing countries, reduction of the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and halving of the world’s population with hunger. There are issues involved with meeting the individual goals and challenges to be addressed. Poor infrastructure, lack of resources and inadequate funds allocated to the realization of these goals are some of the issues to be observed.

References:
Understanding Global Health Chapter 7. Dropbox. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47566859/Understanding%20Global%20Health%20Chapter%207.pdf
Understanding Global Health Chapter 13. Dropbox. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47566859/Understanding%20Global%20Health%20Chapter%2013.pdf
UN Millennium Goals. United Nations. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from: http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/index.html
WHO Millennium Goals. World Health Organization. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from: http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/en/
UN Millennium Summit. United Nations. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from: http://www.un.org/millennium/