Poverty, health goals met after 2015

WITH only five years remaining until the deadline of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a joint report of the two United Nations agencies and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed the Philippines can achieve the poverty and health targets, but only after 2015.

The joint publication of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Manila-based ADB was titled “Paths to 2015-MDG Priorities in Asia and the Pacific.”

The report offered a snapshot of the region’s status in achieving the eight goals and suggests a way forward to the deadline for achieving them in five years. The report also revealed mixed results in the Asia and Pacific region.

“In the aftermath of the financial crisis, poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals should occupy center stage of development strategies for countries in Asia and the Pacific,” UN Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Unescap Dr. Noeleen Heyzer said.

“Lifting people out of poverty is an essential step in building domestic demand in Asia and sustaining global economic growth,” she added in a statement.

In the report, the progress of all countries in achieving the 21 targets were categorized under “slow,” or expected to meet the target after 2015; off-track, or no progress and stagnating or slipping backward; early achiever, which means a country already achieved the 2015 target; and on-track, or a country is expected to meet the target by 2015.

The Philippines is slow and would likely achieve the targets on halving $1.25-a-day poverty and the ratio of underweight children under MDG 1; under-5 mortality and infant mortality under MDG 4, or the Child Health MDG; and skilled birth attendance and antenatal care, or one or more visits to the doctor under MDG 5, or the Maternal Mortality MDG, after 2015.

Targets where the Philippines is slipping are on primary enrollment, reaching last grade and primary completion—all under MDG 2, or achieving primary education. The country is also regressing when it comes to increasing forest cover under MDG 7, or the Environment MDG.

However, the country is an early achiever for all the gender targets under MDG 3; decreasing tuberculosis incidence and prevalence under MDG 6, or preventing the spread of communicable diseases MDG; and the protected area, carbon dioxide emissions and Ozone-depleting substance consumption under MDG 7.

The country is also on-track to achieving the targets on HIV prevalence under MDG 6, as well as the targets on safe drinking water and basic sanitation under MDG 7.

“The region needs to reduce inequality by ensuring a much more inclusive development strategy and improving social protection is vital for helping those who get out of poverty stay out of poverty,” UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Ajay Chhibber said.

“As world leaders gather for the MDG summit, there is much to learn from the region and much to be gained by renewing the political will to accelerate progress on the MDGs,” he added.

The report notes that with the right actions and political will, the Asia and Pacific region―which has rebounded from the global recession and has some of the world’s fastest economic growth rates can turn around and meet targets that it currently lags behind.

It singles out areas where governments should act, including strengthening social safety nets for the poor; stimulating domestic demand and intraregional trade; creating more inclusive and sustainable economic growth; ensuring access to financial services for the poor and marginalized; reducing persistent gender gaps; giving stronger support to least- developed countries; and harnessing the potential of regional economic integration.

The report also highlights the important role of basic infrastructure in achieving MDG targets that would help 1.9 million people in the region living without basic sanitation, 470 million without safe drinking water, and the quarter of all households without access to electricity.

“Without stronger basic infrastructure, particularly better roads, water supplies, sanitation, electricity, information and communications technology, and other essential services, developing countries will be hard-pressed to meet the MDG targets,” ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said.

However, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) earlier said a new methodology on computing poverty statistics would likely cause a slower rate of achieving the MDGs, particularly in poverty.

According to NSCB Secretary-General Dr. Romulo A. Virola, the Technical Committee on Poverty Statistics is already finalizing a new methodology for computing poverty to prevent any confusion in the progress of the Philippines in meeting the goals on poverty.

It is no secret that prior to this disclosure, government statisticians were already working with two sets of data: the first obtained using an old methodology, and another one using an adjusted method that some civil-society experts said could “distort” the true picture of poverty and hunger in the country.

The MDG reports—of which four have been made since 2000, when Manila joined nearly 200 heads of state in signing the MDG commitments at the UN—are based on the differing data sets: the first data set (1985-2000) was used as the base for the MDGs; but the statistical agencies later migrated to the second data set (1997 onward), without being able to resolve the gaps arising from that transition.

Virola said the committee will soon be submitting the new methodology to the NSCB Executive Board for approval. If the methodology is approved, the NSCB will start revising the 1991 base figures up to the latest data, which is 2006. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, Businessmirror