MDG goals can be achieved

Former Health Secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan believes that there is still hope for the country to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) laid down by the United Nations (un) if the Aquino administration has the “political will.”

Tan told The Manila Times that the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd must provide additional financial resources to the five poorest regions in the country to help achieve the MDGs, particularly the goal to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, and maternal mortality rate.

He added that the MDGs are meant to restore social justice in health, education, gender equality and the environment on top of reducing extreme poverty incidences.

But Tan stressed that the five poorest regions in the country are pulling the rest of the nation down.

“Five years is still sufficient to [achieve] the goals,” he added.

The former Health secretary called on President Aquino to be an “MDG President” by addressing these concerns in the millennium goals in his July 26 State of the Nation Address.

Tan was the Health secretary during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos.

The five poorest regions in the country are the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Eastern Visayas, Bicol and Zamboanga Peninsula. Mimaropa is part of Southern Luzon.

During the 32nd National Academy of Science and Technology’s Annual Scientific Meeting, Tan said that the five poorest regions are most likely not to meet the MDGs.

The eight MDGs—eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality rate, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome), malaria and other diseases, ensure environment sustainability and develop a global partnership for development—were laid out by 192 member-states of the United Nations and some 23 international organizations in September 2000, and must be achieved by 2015.

Health, education issues

In particular, the former Health secretary said that the Aquino administration must intensify its efforts in improving basic education and health care services for women in the five poorest regions.

Tan added that failure to address problems like the high number of incidents of maternal mortality in the country’s poorest regions would have a large effect on the Philippiness’ capacity to meet the MDGs.

“[I think] we are running after numbers,” he said.

On Friday last week, United Nations Information Center head Teresa Debuque told The Times that UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon is very much concerned that “MDG one is already an endangered goal in so far as Philippines is concerned,” referring to the first MDG goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

“Since 1990 [when the eight MDGs were first introduced], the number of extreme poverty incidences increased [in the Philippines] instead of decreased. MDG No. 1 is paramount,” she added.

Debuque said that the Philippines has not posted substantial progress in any of the eight MDGs laid down by the UN.

The Philippines was not included in a recent list of the top 20 countries cited for their overall progress in achieving the MDGs by the Overseas Development Institute and the United Nations Millennium Campaign. Some nations in Africa were also included in the top 20 list.

The report said that the Philippines has still much work to do since the country remains off track in more than 40 percent of the 21 indicators for achieving the MDGs.

Neighbors attained MDGs

Tan said that countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka were able to attain the MDGs in just three to four years.

In 2009, extreme poverty incidences in the Philippines remained at 33 percent. The universal poverty threshold was set at $1 a day. People earning below $1 a day are considered “poor.”

Debuque identified rising unemployment in the country as one contributing factor to the continuous increase of extreme poverty incidences especially in rural areas. From 2008 to 2009, the number of unemployed Filipinos rose from 2.7 million to 2.9 million.

“That’s an additional 200,000 Filipinos out of work [in just one year]. Rural poverty is an important factor in accounting for overall poverty incidence,” Debuque said, adding that the lack of employment opportunities and livelihood programs for indigenous communities also contribute to rising extreme poverty incidences.

Reproductive Health bill

Debuque also stressed that the United Nations is behind and is pushing for the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that will promote, among others, natural and artificial methods of family planning.

“Three UN agencies conducted country gender assessment in the Philippines [and found that] . . . there is some more ways to go in ensuring gender equality. There is lack of progress in passing RH bill, and that’s important as far as UN is concerned,” she said.

Also, Debuque said that passing RH bill will help in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. She said that the UN “is very alarmed that in a recent study [by one of UN agencies] in 2009, 230 [Filipino] women out of 100,000 live births die of complications of child birth.”

She noted that this figure is very high compared to other neighboring countries like Thailand, which only has 110 incidences of maternal deaths; Malaysia, 62; and Singapore, 14.

With those figures, Tan also called on the Aquino administration to provide at least one midwife for each barangay to attend to the needs of pregnant women.

Debuque disclosed that some maternal deaths occur because there is no skilled health worker during delivery. She said that only 60 percent of births are supervised by a doctor, nurse or midwife.

She added that a professional health worker with 18 months to two years of experience must attend to each delivery of a child to reduce maternal deaths. –Bernice Camille V. Bauzon Reporter, Manila Times