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How Effective/ Ineffective Are Mdgs In Niger.

Progress of the MDGs in Niger

Date : 04/11/2013

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Samridh

Uploaded by : Samridh
Uploaded on : 04/11/2013
Subject : Geography

How effective/ ineffective are MDGs in Niger.

Millennium development goals introduced in 2000 by the UN have become important tools of monitoring human progress across nations. MDGs have proven to be beneficial to the world as they focus on the issues from which majority of the world is suffering. MDGs have the advantage being quantitative; hence their progress can be measured. Another advantage of the MDGs is that it adds urgency and transparency to international development. MDGs act as a driving force for governments across the worlds as achieving these goals by 2015 would boost the reputation of a country and it's government on the world stage. Niger has show great progress towards achieving these goals and I would be evaluating this progress for each goal.

GOAL 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

The current rate of reduction poverty is too slow and if Niger continues at this rate than it wouldn`t be able to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. According to the current rate of poverty reduction poverty incidence would reduce to 43% as opposed to 21.4% by 2015. But there is a different case in the hunger part of the goal. Due to recent economic growth, particularly in agriculture, the proportion of underweight children has reduced from 35.7 per cent in 1990 to 23.1 per cent in 2008.

GOAL 2 Achieve Universal Basic Education

The rapid improvement in youth literacy, from 64.1 per cent to 80 per cent between 2000 and 2008, appears to have reached a plateau. These low completion rates reflect poor learning environments and point to the urgent need to raise teaching standards.

GOAL 3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

There is a slight improvement in the number of girl enrollments in primary education but not enough to meet the desired goal. The number of girl dropouts in tertiary education is still high. Currently only few women as part of the political structure. However, gradual gains in parliamentary representation for women need to be greatly expanded in the next elections.

GOAL 4 Reduce Child Mortality

Progress in reducing child mortality has been rapid. Under-five mortality has fallen by over a fifth in five years, from 201 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003, to 157 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008. In the same period, the infant mortality rate fell even faster, from 100 to 75 deaths per 1,000 live births. These successful figures can be attributed to Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses organisation. However access to primary health care needs to be improved by more investment in infrastructure, human resources, equipment, and better management if this goal is to be achieved by 2015.

GOAL 5 Improve Maternal Health

Maternal mortality fell by 32 per cent, from 800 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2003 to 545 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2008. However, the proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker has remained low and threatens to hold back further progress. Government commitment is not in doubt. An innovative Midwives Service Scheme is expected to contribute substantially to ongoing shortfalls .In addition, more mothers will be covered by antenatal care as access to quality primary healthcare improves and incentives attract health workers to rural areas, indicating that Nigeria has a good chance of achieving this goal.

GOAL 6 Combat HIV-AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

There was a fall in HIV amongst pregnant young women aged 15-24 from 5.8 per cent in 2001 to 4.2 per cent in 2008. There was great success in the field of reducing the number of polio cases as well. There has been a nationwide distribution of 72 million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, to eradicate malaria, although only in its initial stages, protected twice as many children (10.9 per cent) in 2009, compared to 2008 (5.5 per cent).Similar progress has been made with tuberculosis. With sustained attention, tuberculosis is expected to be a limited public health burden by 2015. To consolidate and extend progress on Goal 6, the government needs to improve knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS, improve access to antiretroviral therapies, and effective implementation of the national strategic frameworks for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis control.

GOAL 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Nigeria's natural resources are still seriously threatened. For example, between 2000 and 2010 the area of forest from 14.4% to 9.9% of total land area.Similarly, access to safe water and sanitation is a serious challenge for Nigeria. Little progress was made up to 2005 but improvements since then have brought the proportion of the population accessing safe water to 58.9% and the proportion accessing improved sanitation to 51%. There is a high risk of over-exploitation of groundwater in the North because of excessive migration towards this part of the country and the large amount of saline water in the South.

GOAL 8 Develop a Global Partnership for Development

As a result of the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in 2001, there was an increase in FDI. This resulted in the proportion of the population with access to mobile phones to increase from 2 % to 42 % between 2000 and 2008. However, this has yet to bridge the digital divide and only 15.8 per cent of the population currently has access to the Internet.

Conclusion

Although Niger has show tremendous progress towards achieving the MDGs and the efforts put in by the government are unquestionable. There is the challenge of accurate, reliable, and believable statistics. Goal 5 and 6 have shown great promise and it is believed that Niger would be able to achieve them by the deadline set by UN. Although the fulfillment of the other Goals especially 3,7 and 8 seems to be a distinct possibility. Even if Niger is unable to complete some goals the progress it has made in trying to achieve them will certainly improve the quality of life for the Nigerians. The MDGs have proven effective for Niger, as now it can boast of being one of the more economically and socially better country in Africa.

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