RP’s MDG achievement: Africa better

AFRICAN countries are making better progress than the Philippines in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a report recently released by the Overseas Development Institute and the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

In the MDG Report Card, African countries like Ethiopia and Gambia, as well as Asean countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, are leading in terms of MDG achievement. Some Central Asian countries are also attaining significant progress in achieving the MDGs.

“Many of the world’s poorest countries are, in absolute terms, actually making significant progress toward achieving the MDGs, contrary to some misleading and negative reports,” UN Millennium Campaign Acting Director Minar Pimple said in a statement.

“Eleven of the 20 countries on the list are, in fact, among Africa’s poorest countries, such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Gambia, Rwanda and Mali.”

According to the MDG Report Card, the top 20 countries that have “Absolute Progress” in achieving the MDGs are Benin, Mali, Ethiopia, Gambia, Malawi, Vietnam, Uganda, Nepal, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Honduras, Mauritania, Ghana, China, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Togo.

In a statement, the UNDP explained that absolute progress measures the overall progress of countries. For instance, these countries have reduced the largest share of the population living in extreme poverty or increased primary-school enrollment rates by the largest number of percentage points.

The MDG Report Card also came up with the Top 20 countries that have achieved Progress Relative to MDG Targets. These are Ecuador, China, Thailand, Brazil, Egypt, Vietnam, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Mexico, El Salvador, Benin, Chile, Malawi, Gambia and Guatemala.

Relative progress, the UNDP said, assesses how close countries have come to achieving specific MDG targets—for example, which countries have come closest to halving child mortality, or to closing the gap in achieving universal primary education.

“The Philippines may not have made it to the Top 20 list, but this does not mean hope is lost. If some of the poorest countries in Africa are making progress, we have no doubt that the Philippines can also make it happen,” said UN Resident Coordinator to the Philippines Jacqui Badcock said in a statement.

“All we need is government commitment, and a proactive and sustained nationwide advocacy to keep government actions and intentions aligned with the MDGs,” Badcock added.

The MDG Report Card cited political leadership, accountability, adequate budgetary allocation for the goals and active citizen participation as among key contributors to the success of the Top 20 countries. It focuses on progress toward Goals 1, 4 and 5.

Goal 1 targets the halving by 2015 of the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day; Goal 4 seeks the reduction by two-thirds of the under-five mortality rate; while Goal 5 looks at the reduction by three-quarters of the maternal mortality ratio.

The UNDP said that while the Asia-Pacific region, as a whole, is an early achiever for a number of indicators, the Philippines, in particular, has much work to be done as it remains off-track in more than 40 percent of the 21 indicators.

Poverty incidence among population groups in the Philippines increased to 32.9 percent in 2006 from 30 percent in 2003, with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao posting the highest incidence at 61.8 percent. Poverty incidence among families also worsened from 24.4 percent in 2003 to 26.9 percent in 2006.

“With the aftermath of the global economic slowdown, typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009, and the El Niño phenomenon [in early 2010], a further worsening of poverty is anticipated in the 2009 poverty estimates,” the UNDP said.

Another MDG where the Philippines is lagging is improving maternal health, or Goal 5. The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. reported that the maternal mortality ratio continues to worsen with 162 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. Around 11 Filipino women die every 24 hours from pregnancy and childbirth complications.

Despite the Philippines’ absence from the list, the country has actually made significant progress in Goal 4 of reducing child mortality. Infant and under-five mortality rates have been steadily decreasing since 1990, according to the National Demographic and Health Survey.

The infant mortality rate in 2008 was 25 per 1,000 live births, very nearly closing the gap with the target of reducing infant deaths to 19 by 2015. The Philippines also managed to bring the infant mortality numbers down from 80 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 34 deaths in 2008. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, Businessmirror