Millennium Development Goals and Achievement of Bangladesh
Bangladesh as a signatory country of the Millennium Development Goals has already achieved tremendous progress in the areas of primary schooling lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and overall poverty reduction from the very beginning, Bangladesh has committed a significant role to implementing Millennium Development Goals by 2015. All 189 United Nations member states at the time (there are 193 currently), and at least 23 international organizations committed to helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Bangladesh has recognized herself as a role model country in achieving of declaration of Millennium Development Goals.
What is MDG:
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the largest gathering of the world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015 that has become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's). MDG Review Meeting was scheduled by the UN Secretary-General as part of the 65th General Assembly on the 20-22 September 2010 at the UN in New York to assess & evaluate the progress & achievements of MDG targets of the first decade.
The Declaration asserted that every individual has dignity; and hence, the right to freedom, equality, and a basic standard of living that includes freedom from hunger and violence and encourages tolerance and solidarity. The MDGs set concrete targets and indicators for poverty reduction in order to achieve the rights set forth in the Declaration. The eight Millennium Development Goals are:
To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
To achieve universal primary education
To promote gender equality and empower women
To reduce child mortality
To improve maternal health
To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
To ensure environmental sustainability
To develop a global partnership for the development and Bangladesh
MDG and Bangladesh:
Bangladesh has made noteworthy progress in the attainment of MDGs during 2000-2015. We are happy that our efforts to reduce child mortality of 35 per thousand in Bangladesh have been duly acknowledged by the United Nations. The world body appreciated and recognized Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and through her the people of Bangladesh for their utmost effort for poverty reduction in Bangladesh.
This recognition of Bangladesh's sincere efforts in trying to reach the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015, while clearly encouraging for us, is also a reminder for us of what we must yet to do in order to tackle the remaining sense of the eight MDG's.
The bottom line for Bangladesh at this point is that its success in reducing child mortality must now be followed by proactive efforts toward achieving the seven other MDG targets. As the Prime Minister has pointed out in New York, Bangladesh will need 22.1 billion if it has to attain all the MDGs.
Achievement of Bangladesh:
Highlighting Bangladesh's role as a model in MDG achievement, UNDP Country Director, Pauline Tamesis said that Bangladesh has made laudable progress in various social sectors over the past few decades. In all aspects of MDGs indicators, Bangladesh has revealed positive signs to meet the target that is focused on below.
Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger: Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in respect of eradication of poverty and hunger. It has sustained a GDP growth rate in excess of 6 percent in recent years that has played a positive role in eradicating poverty. The estimated figures suggest that the MDG target of halving the population living below the poverty line (from 56.7 percent to 29.0 percent) has already been achieved (26.2 percent) in 2014. Unemployment, as well as underemployment, is especially dominant among young people between 15 to 24 years of age. This age group comprises nearly 9 percent of the country's population and 23 percent of the labor force. Moreover, while Bangladesh has demonstrated its capacity for achieving the goal of poverty reduction within the target timeframe, attaining food security and nutritional wellbeing still remains a challenge. The challenges with regard to reducing income inequality and the low economic participation of women also remain major concerns.
Achieve Universal Primary Education: The second Goal has designated universal primary education that emphasizes the implicit objective of equal education for boys and girls alike and to be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. The goal is to ensure that the net primary enrollment rate rises to 100% by 2015 and that all the pupils entering grade 1 are retained until grade 5. Education is the prime mover of economic development and hence this sector has usually received the topmost priority in the government's expenditure programs. Bangladesh has already achieved gender parity in primary and secondary enrolment. Initiatives have been taken to introduce pre-school education to prepare the children for formal schooling. The government is in the process of implementing a comprehensive National Education Policy (2010) to achieve its objectives. The Constitution of Bangladesh has provisions for free and compulsory primary education. The challenges under MDG 2 include attaining the targets of primary education completion rate and the adult literacy rate. A large number of physically and mentally retarded children remain out of the schooling system. The quality of education is also a challenge at the primary and higher level.
Promote Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women: Gender equality and women empowerment are a core MDG. It is a development objective in my right, and its achievement is essential for attaining the goal of poverty reduction. Bangladesh has already achieved this goal i.e. gender parity in primary-secondary education at the national level. This positive development has occurred due to some specific public interventions focusing on girl students, such as stipends and exemption of tuition fees for girls in rural areas, and the stipend scheme for girls at the secondary level. Bangladesh has made significant progress in promoting the objectives of ensuring gender equality and empowerment of women. There had been a steady improvement in the social and political empowerment scenario of women in Bangladesh. Government policy is to remove gender gaps from the country's social and economic life and bring about greater women empowerment. To that end, different programs have been adopted at government and non-government levels. The programs include: —
Improvement of food security among poor women.
- Establishment of Women's Training Academy.
- Day Care Program for children of working women.
- Building hostels for working women.
- Women's agricultural training institute; women's handicraft and agriculture training center; safe housing project for women.
- Advocacy to end gender-based violence through the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
While the country has made considerable progress in bringing about greater women's empowerment and reducing gender gaps, there are still several areas of concern, which need to be addressed for making further progress toward gender equality.
Reduce Child Mortality: Bangladesh is on track to meeting the target of this goal measured in three different indicators like under-five mortality rate, infant mortality rate, and immunization against measles. The successful programs for immunization, control of diarrhoeal diseases, and Vitamin A supplementation are considered to be the most significant contributors to the decline in child and infant deaths along with the potential effect on overall economic and social development.
Improve Maternal Health:
According to Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Survey (BMMS), maternal mortality declined from 322 in 2001 to 194 in 2010, a 40 percent decline in nine years. The average rate of decline from the base year has been about 3.3 percent per year, compared with the average annual rate of reduction of 3.0 percent required for achieving the MDG in 2015. The BMMS 2001 and 2010 show that overall mortality among women in the reproductive ages has consistently declined during these nine years. The government has framed the National Health Policy, of 2011 with a view to revamping the health sector and the 'National Population Policy 2012' has also been finalized. Moreover, in order to strengthen primary healthcare facilities, the government has launched 12,217 community clinics to expand health services to the grassroots level. The innovative idea to use Information and Communication Technology for the progress of the health of women and children has already been acclaimed by the world. However, challenges remain in the area of access to productive health.
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases: Health is a fundamental right of the people, recognized in the constitution. The Government of Bangladesh considers health as a high-priority sector. It is also committed to achieving of combating HIV/AIDS and other killer diseases. The country has done well in halting communicable diseases under this goal. Available data show the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh currently is less than 0.1 at and thus is still below an epidemic level.
Environmental Sustainability: Bangladesh has limited capabilities, technology, or resources to face any large environmental disaster. However, even though the UN Millennium Declaration does not explicitly specify any goal, the Government of Bangladesh has adopted several measures to improve and protect the environment. These relate to the formulation of a land use policy, a national water management plan, policies for controlling air, water, and noise pollution, and an integrated coastal zone management plan. Bangladesh is also a signatory to the Rio Convention on Bio-diversity (1992), and the Kyoto Protocol that came into Oct from 17 February 2005. It has also enacted legislation, such as Environmental Protection Act, 1995, Wild Life Protection (Amendment) Act 1974, and Environmental Court Act 2000.
Develop a Global Partnership for Development: The Government of Bangladesh has taken up plans to ensure universal access through the harmonious development of the telecommunication network and building a well-developed, strong, and reliable telecommunication infrastructure for effective implementation of its ICT policy and ultimately for complementing the “Vision 2021" of the government. Cellular subscribers per 100 populations are 64.6 in 2012 which was zero in 1990. The internet users per 100 population is 20.5 in 2012, which was 0.15, 0.20, and 3.4 in 2005, 2006, and 2008 respectively.
Conclusion: According to the commitment of (MDGs), it seems to be that Bangladesh has made an outstanding achievement and is recognized as a Model to implement the declaration of Millennium Development Goals. Bangladesh is on track or has already achieved 5 of the 8 MDG goals. The country has made remarkable progress in the areas of poverty alleviation, primary school enrolment, gender parity in primary and secondary level education, lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunization coverage, and reducing the incidence of communicable Bangladesh is still lagging far behind in some key target areas of environmental sustainability, sanitation, nutrition and certain aspects of gender equity and hunger in attaining the goals under MDG 6, 7 and 8.
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