India lags in meeting MDGs
Is worse than Nepal and Bangladesh in meeting health and education targets set by UN, says BU-supported research
The review of the UN Millennium Declaration known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) showed that India is lagging behind in implementation of these goals, which have to be achieved by 2015.
In fact, the country even lags behind other Asian nations like Bangladesh and Nepal, it was found.
Adopted in the year 2000, the UN declaration requires all the signatory countries, which includes India, to achieve an array of economic, health and social targets.
The review was done by the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), and was supported by by Bangalore University’s (BU) Department of Communication. It revealed that India is off track in achieving most of the goals.
While there has been reduction in the overall rate of poverty, the progress in many other areas is poor. By all accounts health is still a major problem and so is universal education. The UN Development Programmme report 2005 says that India will not be able to meet the MDG targets in health and education.
Stating that HIV/AIDS is a major concern for India Padmini Prasad, member, FPA said measures like voluntary testing, offering education for AIDS prevention, reaching out to street children, sex workers and youth and promoting the usage of condoms etc can check the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Similarly, FPA Vice-President Sheela Mane highlighted the facts about Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the country. She said that about 25 per cent deaths happen due to teenage pregnancies and more than 70 per cent women are anaemic which is the biggest reason for maternal mortality.
Further, Bangalore University Department of Communication Chairman Jagadeesh Prasad said: “there is a need to communicate information to targeted audience to achieve these goals. The medical institutions and health organisations should aid the government in health programmes.”
He further said that the gap between health and education department should be bridged to create health awareness. So, health education as a subject will be soon introduced in the syllabus of Bangalore University’s department of communication.”
Goals
* Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
* Achieve universal primary education
* Promote gender equality and empower women
* Reduce child mortality
* Improve maternal health & access to reproductive health
* Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
* Ensure environmental sustainability & develop a global partnership development.
