"To what extent has progress been made in achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development
From the 6th to the 8th of March, 2005, the Millennium Summit was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, with the attendance of 149 Head of State and Government and high-ranking officials from over 40 countries. One of the main events was the UN Millennium Declaration, where nations commit to a new partnership to work toward a more peaceful, equal and just world. The eight goals that are set to be achieved by the year of 2015 are the so-called Millennium Development Goals, including eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reduce child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development. This essay will examine the progress made by UN, more explicitly on poverty reduction, education, and health, using the examples from China, sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa and Southern Asia.
According to World Vision, the goal of reducing the extreme poverty rate by half was successfully met in 2010 – 5 years ahead of the deadline. The global population of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. Unfortunately, the other target of reducing the proportion of the population suffering from hunger was slightly missed - the proportion of the undernourished population has fallen from 23.3% in 1990 to 12.9% in 2014. China’s significant progress has led to reduction in East Asia’s extreme poverty rate from 61% to 4%. In contrast, the extreme poverty rate in Western Asia is anticipated to increase. Moreover, the extreme poverty rate decline in sub-Saharan African only began to accelerate in 2002, therefore, more than 40% of the population still lives in extreme poverty in 2015.
On the other hand, a significant progress was made to achieving universal primary education, but the target was missed. The primary net school enrollment rate in developing countries has increased from 83% in 2000 to 91% in 2015. The number of children who are out of primary school worldwide has been reduced by almost half – 100 million in 2000 to 57 million in 2015. The global literacy rate among the population aged 15 to 24 has increased from 83% in 1990 to 91% in 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa has made a distinguishable progress of 20% points in the increase of primary net school enrollment. Two goals aimed at health – improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases, have made respectful changes to human lives. Since 1990, the maternal mortality rate has been decreased by 45%, with most acceleration occurred since 2000. Also, more than 71% of births were assisted by medical skilled personnel in 2014, a large increase from 59 percent in 1990. One of the fundamental considerations, contraceptive prevalence, among women aged 15 to 49 increased from 55 percent in 1990 to 64% in 2015. In sub-Saharan Africa, the maternal mortality rate declined by 49% from 1990 to 2013, and in Southern Asia, it dropped by 64%. In terms of disease prevention, from 2004 to 2014, more than 900 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were delivered to malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2000 and 2013, approximately 37 million lives were saved by tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions; the tuberculosis mortality rate declined by 45%.
Apart from extreme poverty, primary education and health, the MDGs have made improvements on alternative areas. First, of gender equality, Southern Asia has been particularly outstanding in progressing: today, 103 girls are enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys, an increase from only 74 girls in 1990. Second, the global child mortality rate has declined from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. Third, in terms of environmental sustainability, the target of reducing the population without access to water by half was achieved; 2.6 billion people gained access to drinking water. Last but not the least, official development aid from wealthy countries to developing countries has increased by 66% - achieving $135.3 billion.
Due to the significant progress that is made over uneven regions, the most vulnerable living beings are still left behind because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity or geographical location. For example, gender equality persists. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the ratio of women to every 100 men in poor households increased from 108 women in 1997 to 117 women in 2012. In developed countries, mindsets of discrimination towards women always exist. However, the core of this agenda is sustainable development in aspects to make the world a better place for every individual. The progress has proved the potential of cooperation between nations, and it shall continue.