The 8 MDG’s were proposed in 2000 at the
start of the new millennium to create an improved world free from poverty,
inequality and disease, however despite this idealism this task was a global challenge, as 183
countries signed up the goals very few have or will achieve more than 2 by 2015.
However, whilst there is much scepticism
surrounding the goals and their achievability, many countries have made strong
advancements towards the goals and as a result progressed their
development. Many schemes both governmental and local have helped towards
achieving the goals yet with 1.93
years left on the clock, completion seems doubtful.
There is much disparity between countries when it comes to
their achievements regarding the MDG’s, for example whilst Venezuela has made
rapid achievement, Haiti is lagging far behind. The main cause of this disparity is the different starting
points from which countries began their goals, for example Haiti in 2000
was one of the worlds poorest countries whereas Venezuela under Chavez regime
began a socialist approach where communal support was key, suggesting that the
MDG’s may have been easier for some countries to begin with. Venezuela is on
task with all of the goals, it has in fact been declared illiteracy free with regards to goal 2
of Universal primary education and has reduced its percentage of people living in absolute poverty by 20%,
it also has more women in higher education than men suggesting a large
achievement in empowering women. Despite many challenges such as sex and drug trafficking hindering
achievements and recent political turbulence resulting in violent protests,
for eradication of HIV/AIDS and the
collapse of the health care system, Venezuela is one of the leading countries
in the developing world for completing its goals by 2015.
However Haiti is in a different situation, the goals for an
impoverished country such as Haiti are monumentous and perhaps even impossible.
For example, Haiti only has
1.3 hospital beds per thousand population, meaning improving maternal health is
a great challenge, therefore many women have home births which has a
high risk of both infant mortality and death in childbirth. Haiti’s lack of
medical supplies and hospital beds has a negative multiplier effect on the
other goals, for example a lack of healthcare in childbirth means increased
infant mortality, increased disease or infection which may keep women out of work thus reducing empowerment and
equality for women and increasing poverty. Haiti has experienced many
challenges in the last 14 years that have truly hindered its chances at meeting
the goals, for example the 2010
earthquake devastated much infrastructure, increased disease and
dissipated population leaving behind a legacy of underdevelopment rather than
progression towards the goals. It seems very unlikely Haiti will meet the goals
by 2015 and is perhaps on par with African nations rather than Latin American
nations in meeting the goals.
There are a multitude of challenges posing countries that
are working towards the MDG’s, one which is not involved with the goals is that
of corruption. Corruption and
a lack of human rights can prevent development for many countries, Haiti has
been ranks among the most corrupt nations in the world and Venezuela has over
400,000 children working as sex or labour slaves. Corruption and malpractice is so far
rooted in many developing nations that it is difficult to overcome regardless
of targets such as the MDG’s set by the UN. Without a goal focusing on
corruption, human rights or shadow economies there is less incentive for countries
to acknowledge these issues and move past them, therefore, as these issues can
severely hinder other aspects of development such as poverty or gender
equality, it seems unlikely many developing nations will be able to meet their
goals by 2015 as they are facing challenges outside the realm of the 8 goals.
The MDG’s have produced many improvements for developing
nations helping towards a better quality of life for many people and reducing
world poverty, however the very concept of reducing world poverty is not a
simple quick fix, poverty is
caused by so many aspects that eradicating it within 15 years seems incredibly
naïve. Many of the goals such as gender equality are stunted by
religious and governmental boundaries such as within Islamic nations and goals
such as the environmental sustainability are not priorities for many nations
that face extreme poverty and infant mortality. Despite the goals being applied
to 183 countries, it seems unlikely one nation will achieve all 8 goals by 2015
or even close to that, as many countries are unlikely to reach their
development destination within
15 years after hundreds of years of underdevelopment and poverty. How can you
possibly fix deep rooted problems that have evolved over hundreds of years
within 15?
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