Three of 14 millennium goals achieved, five on track

Friday, November 20, 2009 11:57 PM

LATEST NEWS:

News

BY KIMONE THOMPSON, Observer senior reporter thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

OF the 14 targets set out under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Jamaica has so far achieved three and is on track with five, the national progress report mapping the country's achievement of the goals has shown.

According to the report, which was spearheaded by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the proportion of people who live below the national poverty line has been reduced by two-thirds, moving from 28.4 per cent in 1990 to 9.9 per cent in December 2007. Similarly, the proportion of the 'food poor' has been reduced by two-thirds, falling from 8.3 per cent in 1990 to 2.9 per cent in 2007. The prevalence of underweight children under five years old has also been reduced, dropping from 8.4 per cent to 2.2 per cent between 1990 and 2007.

The targets as laid out under goal number one of the MDGs - to eradicate poverty and hunger - are to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people below the poverty line and to halve those who suffer from hunger (the food poor).

The other target achieved so far is under MDG goal number two - to achieve universal primary education. By 2015, children everywhere, both boys and girls should be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. According to the report, there is now a net enrolment in the primary school system of over 90 per cent and gross enrolment is "almost 100
per cent".

Despite the gains made, however, social policy experts are concerned they could be eroded by factors originating both in and outside of the country.

"Unless there are mitigating actions, global recession will negatively impact the achievements in poverty reduction since these have been based on controlled inflation, growth of the informal sector to over 40 per cent of the economy, and growth in remittances.

In addition, the report said: "Violence and the numbers of vulnerable youth are likely to increase and together these factors will cause slippage in MDG progress".

"Overall we are doing fairly well," director of social policy, planning and research at
the PIOJ, Dr Pauline Knight, told the Observer after
the launch of the document last Thursday. "But the environmental area is an area for concern because we're either lagging or slipping back. We're not doing very well there so we just have to redouble our efforts and get more support from our international partners to put in more projects and have better policies in place in these areas."

Outside of international help, however, she pointed out that there was much Jamaica could do to meet the MDG targets.

"There are many things we can do [for ourselves]. For instance, in the area of energy conservation with the use of solar energy for water heaters and so on, promoting the research of alternative sources of energy like our E10, that's a wonderful move," she said.

"Disaster mitigation is another area we need to focus on. For child mortality, a lot of the mortality is due to accidents in the home so there needs to be more focus in the home on preventing child mortality by being more careful and by not leaving children alone and unattended at home," Dr Knight added.

Those targets that are on track, which means they have already covered 90 per cent of the criteria for achievement, are all three under the sixth MDG goal - combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The report pointed to a general decline in the number of HIV/AIDS deaths and cases and attributed it
to increased access to antiretroviral treatment. That access jumped from less than five per cent in 2000 to 60 per cent in 2008.

Target number three under the seventh MDG goal is also on track, according to the report. Ninety two per cent of the population already has access to safe drinking water and 98.9 per cent has access to basic sanitation, a suggestion that by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access would have not only been halved but eradicated.

The national report, which will be presented to the United Nations Economic and Social Council at the annual ministerial review in Geneva in July, said three targets were "lagging", two were "far behind" and one was "slipping back".

Those lagging - between 70 and 89 per cent complete - concern the elimination of gender disparity in all levels of education, integrating policies of sustainable development into country policies and programmes, and reducing biodiversity loss.

Far behind - less than 70 per cent complete - were targets related to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

Target four under MDG goal seven - to significantly improve the lives of slum dwellers - is slipping back. That means that things are more than five per cent worse in 2007 than they were in 1990.

At the same time, Urban population has grown from 35 per cent in 1991 to 52 per cent at present and the proportion of this population that are slum dwellers is just over 60 per cent, according to the report.

Social development consultant, Jenny Jones, who helped to prepare the report, told the Observer that she thought the figure, which was obtained from the websites of UN agencies, was "exceptionally high" and didn't seem to represent the true state of the situation. But, she said, the team relied on the UN data since the target was not being measured by the annual national survey.

"The greatest concern is around the area of slippage: The proportion of the population living in unacceptable living conditions or slums. The implications of the slippage in this area can negatively impact all the MDGs," read the document which was launched at the PIOJ offices in New Kingston.

What's your position on mandatory HIV testing for employees in Jamaica?
	I support it
	I don't support it

View Results
Results published weekly in Sunday Finance

Username:
Password: