About MDGs and SDGs, Lessons learnt from MDGs, Sustainable development in India:
About Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were the eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established through the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Eight international goals were:
• 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 development Given each goal had specific target and dates for achieving those target.
About Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, are an intergovernmental set of aspiration Goals with 169 targets.
The history of the SDGs can be traced to 1972 when governments met
under the auspices of the United Nations Human and Environment
Conference, to consider the rights of the human family to a healthy and
productive environment. It was not until 1983 that the United Nations agreed to create the
World Commission on Environment and Development as an independent body
of the UN. In 1992 the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
was held in Rio. It was here that the first agenda for Environment and
Development was developed and adopted, also known as Agenda 21
Lessons learnt from MDGs: -
- High level political commitment globally and nationally. We need nothing less for SDGs
- MDG basically focused on the aggregate targets ignoring inequities between countries. To understand the real progress and challenges, there is need to categorized data by gender, economic status and geographical area.
- Neither the economic benefits of good health nor the direct financial consequences of ill-health were sufficiently captured by MDGs. We know that nations require healthy population and when people do fall sick, high out of pocket expenditures on health lead to financial hardship and diminish the ability of population to contribute in economy. In India, 60 million people fall in poverty by just paying for healthcare.
- MDGs did not capture the importance of prevention, early detection and response to the disease threats. Premature deaths due to growing non-communicable disease(NCD) epidemic could be prevented by reducing life style risks such as tobacco use, food intake, inactivity, and alcohol consumption. In addition, diseases like SARS, Ebola, MERS and Zika pose threats to global health security and have the potential to cripple countries. MDGs missed this important issue.
- the MDGs focused only on addressing specific disease and symptoms, which led to further fragmentation, duplication and inefficiencies in the health systems. WHO estimates that nearly 20-40 per cent of all health resources are wasted.
The way forward :
MDGs had three dedicated health goals, whereas the SDGs agenda has only one health goal (SDG-3) which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all. SDGs-3 will also cover unfinished agenda of MDGs (of reducing maternal and child mortality and tackling the communicable diseases). SDG-3 also aims to tackle the epidemic of NCDs, substance abuse and ill-effects of environmental hazards.
Scope of SDGs:
Scope of SDGs provides immense opportunity bring health at the center of economic growth.
Sustainable development in India
India can progress towards sustainable development in health if it follows the following five steps :-
- Health must be high on the national and state agenda, as it is the cornerstone for economic growth of the nation. This requires high political commitment and collective long-term efforts by all ministries. India’s draft National Health Policy 2015 is commendable as it raise public to health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2020.
- India should invest in public health and finish the MDG agenda through improvements in maternal and child health, eliminating malaria, and increasing the fight against tuberculosis.
- Accelerate the implementation of universal health coverage. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is important to prevent people slipping into poverty due to ill health and to ensure everyone in need has access to good quality health services
- Build robust health system in all aspects and strengthen both the rural and urban components, with comprehensive primary health care at its centre.
- Develop a strong system for monitoring, evaluation and accountability. It is absolutely essential to regularly review and analyse the progress made for feeding into policy decisions and revising strategies based on the challenges.
Conclusion :
The SDGs have the potential to create a world where no one is left behind. The SDGS also make it possible to achieve what the WHO constitution mandates: attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. (src: The Hindu, wiki)
About Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were the eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established through the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Eight international goals were:
• 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 development Given each goal had specific target and dates for achieving those target.
About Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, are an intergovernmental set of aspiration Goals with 169 targets.
Background
Lessons learnt from MDGs: -
- High level political commitment globally and nationally. We need nothing less for SDGs
- MDG basically focused on the aggregate targets ignoring inequities between countries. To understand the real progress and challenges, there is need to categorized data by gender, economic status and geographical area.
- Neither the economic benefits of good health nor the direct financial consequences of ill-health were sufficiently captured by MDGs. We know that nations require healthy population and when people do fall sick, high out of pocket expenditures on health lead to financial hardship and diminish the ability of population to contribute in economy. In India, 60 million people fall in poverty by just paying for healthcare.
- MDGs did not capture the importance of prevention, early detection and response to the disease threats. Premature deaths due to growing non-communicable disease(NCD) epidemic could be prevented by reducing life style risks such as tobacco use, food intake, inactivity, and alcohol consumption. In addition, diseases like SARS, Ebola, MERS and Zika pose threats to global health security and have the potential to cripple countries. MDGs missed this important issue.
- the MDGs focused only on addressing specific disease and symptoms, which led to further fragmentation, duplication and inefficiencies in the health systems. WHO estimates that nearly 20-40 per cent of all health resources are wasted.
The way forward :
MDGs had three dedicated health goals, whereas the SDGs agenda has only one health goal (SDG-3) which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all. SDGs-3 will also cover unfinished agenda of MDGs (of reducing maternal and child mortality and tackling the communicable diseases). SDG-3 also aims to tackle the epidemic of NCDs, substance abuse and ill-effects of environmental hazards.
Scope of SDGs:
Scope of SDGs provides immense opportunity bring health at the center of economic growth.
Sustainable development in India
India can progress towards sustainable development in health if it follows the following five steps :-
- Health must be high on the national and state agenda, as it is the cornerstone for economic growth of the nation. This requires high political commitment and collective long-term efforts by all ministries. India’s draft National Health Policy 2015 is commendable as it raise public to health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2020.
- India should invest in public health and finish the MDG agenda through improvements in maternal and child health, eliminating malaria, and increasing the fight against tuberculosis.
- Accelerate the implementation of universal health coverage. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is important to prevent people slipping into poverty due to ill health and to ensure everyone in need has access to good quality health services
- Build robust health system in all aspects and strengthen both the rural and urban components, with comprehensive primary health care at its centre.
- Develop a strong system for monitoring, evaluation and accountability. It is absolutely essential to regularly review and analyse the progress made for feeding into policy decisions and revising strategies based on the challenges.
Conclusion :
The SDGs have the potential to create a world where no one is left behind. The SDGS also make it possible to achieve what the WHO constitution mandates: attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. (src: The Hindu, wiki)
