Development gains need to reach vulnerable group: UN

SIGNIFICANT GAINS have been made in terms of meeting development goals set by the United Nations (UN) but the progress has been patchy, a UN report released Friday showed.

The world as a whole is still on track to reach the poverty-reduction target by 2015, according to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Report 2011, but “progress has been uneven, and there are still too many people being left behind.”

The report, which assessed MDG progress per region, stated disparities in performance, noting that deep cuts in the hunger incidence in Eastern Asia as of 2005, for instance, were mainly due to progress made in China. Improvement in levels of hunger in Southeast Asia, meanwhile, came largely from advances made in the Philippines and Indonesia.

“Trends observed in Southeastern Asia, Eastern Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean suggest that they are likely to meet the hunger-reduction target by 2015,” the report said.

The report, meanwhile, also noted that the Philippines contributed to the worldwide drop in the number of women parliamentarians. In the 15th Congress, only three women senators were elected compared with four in the 13th and 14th Congresses.

Southeast Asia, as a whole, was said to have achieved four of the seven MDGs: poverty eradication, gender equality, as well as combating HIV/AIDS (human immunovirus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The report said robust growth in developing countries had significantly reduced poverty — involving people living on less than $1.25 a day — with the rate down 27% from 46%. For Southeast Asia, the level dropped to 19% in 2005 from 39% in 1990, surpassing the 2015 target of 20%.

Girls are gaining ground, meanwhile, when it comes to education in the region, with as many girls as boys, or even more girls than boys, enrolled in school in 2009. Southeast Asia is also doing well in managing HIV prevalence and making available safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

The region, however, has yet to achieve the target in other indicators such as universal access to primary education, reduction in child mortality and improvement in maternal care.

The report noted slow progress in primary school enrolment not only in Southeast Asia (94% in 2010 from 93% in 2000) but also in other regions (an average 2% increase), “dimming prospects for reaching the MDG target of universal primary education by 2015.”

In terms of child mortality, under-five mortality has been reduced to 36 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2009 from 73 deaths in 1990, but still above the target of 24 deaths by 2015.

In terms of improving maternal health, the maternal mortality ratio recorded for the region in 2008 was 162 deaths for every 100,000 live births, not far from 2015 target of 153 maternal deaths.

In a 2010 Philippine progress report that was jointly conducted by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the UN, the country was found to be at par with Southeast Asian neighbors. It fared poorly, however, in addressing the low turnout of primary school graduates, improving maternal health care and combating HIV/AIDS.

Erlinda M. Capones, NEDA social development staff director, said the next MDG update for the country will be released in 2013. An acceleration plan, which will lay out initiatives to meet indicators where the country is lagging, is expected to be released by the end of the month.

“The plan will include an appropriate mix of physical and social infrastructures and social safety nets to meet the MDGs,” Ms. Capones said.

She noted that the expected passage into law of the Reproductive Health Bill, which will provide universal access to natural and artificial contraceptives, would help address maternal health and HIV/AIDS prevalence.

Worldwide, the MDG report noted slow progress in terms of improved nutrition for school children, employment for women and the net enrolment ratio of children in primary school.

“Achieving the goals will require equitable and inclusive economic growth — growth that reaches everyone and that will enable all people, especially the poor and marginalized, to benefit from economic opportunities,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a statement.

“Between now and 2015, we must make sure that promises made become promises kept. World leaders must show not only that they care, but that they have the courage and conviction to act.”