EULALEE THOMPSON
THREE OF the goals four, five and six relate directly to achieving global health targets, but they all relate to the global improvement of world's quality of life. Bold visions for improving the status of women and children are outlined in two of the eight goals four and five and it was against the background of these goals that the recent World Health Day 2005, observed the theme 'Make Every Mother And Child Count'. There are some key messages in the theme:
Too many mothers and children are suffering and dying each year. Low and middle-income countries bear the burden of maternal and infant deaths. Millions of mothers and children, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), are dying each year in pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood. Others are suffering from ill-health and undernutrition.
Healthy mothers and children are the real wealth of societies. The improved well-being of mothers and children furthers the broader economic, social and developmental goals of families, communities and nations. The WHO says that when a mother is sick or dies, the home and economy suffers. An estimated one million children die as a result of the death of their mother, WHO studies indicate.
Millions of lives could be saved using knowledge we have today. The challenge is to transform this knowledge into action.
In order to make a difference, we must all join forces and act.
STATUS OF THE GOALS
The latest update on the world's status entitled 'Investing in Development: A Practical Plan To Achieve The Millennium Development Goals' (January 2005) indicates that the region of Latin America and the Caribbean has met three targets:
1 Literacy parity between young women and men (under goal 3) promotes gender equality and empowerment of women.
2Measles immunisation
(under goal 4) reduces child mortality.
3Halve proportion without improved drinking water in urban areas (under goal 7) ensures environmental sustainability.
The region is on track to reduce hunger by half; girls' equal enrolment in primary school; girls' equal enrolment in secondary school and reduce mortality of under-five-year-olds by two-thirds.
The region is making progress, but lagging in four areas: Women's equal representation in national parliaments (under goal 3); halve proportion without improved drinking water in rural areas; halve proportion without sanitation in rural areas and improve the lives of slum dwellers (the latter three are targets under goal 7).
The Millennium Project in its report (January, 2005) to the U.N. secretary-general states that significant progress has been made in achieving many of the eight goals, but the progress across the world and within countries is not uniform. The rural folk continue to be at a great disparity and sub-Saharan African continues to be in a crisis of poverty, slum and high child and maternal mortality.
The millennium goals are perhaps the most comprehensive plan to mobilise and harness all the worlds resources to improve the health and quality of life for the more than one billion people living in abject poverty. Will we miss this opportunity? Will 2015 dawn on a world that has yet again missed the chance to make us all 'full citizens'?
You can send your comments to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
