Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

and
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dr. Fasiha Shah

 Introduction
 The United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have
agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.
 The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed

in September 2000, commits world leaders to combat

poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental
degradation, and discrimination against women .
 The MDGs are derived from this Declaration. Each MDG has
targets set for 2015 and indicators to monitor progress from
1990 levels. Several of these relate directly to health.
 While some countries have made impressive gains in
achieving health-related targets, others are falling behind .
 Often the countries making the least progress are those
affected by high levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or
conflict
Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs)
 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were
eight international development goals for the year
2015 that had been established following the
Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000,
following the adoption of the United Nations
Millennium Declaration.
 These were based on the OECD (Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development) DAC
(Development Assistance Committee) International
Development Goals agreed by Development Ministers
in the “Shaping the 21st Century Strategy”.
 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeded
the MDGs in 2016.
MDGs
 All 191 United Nations member states, and at least 22
international organizations, committed to help achieve
the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015:
 To eradicate (Eliminate) 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
Goal 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people whose income is less

than $1 a day
• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for
all, including women and young people
• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of

primary schooling
 Sub-Saharan Africa has had the best record of
improvement in primary education of any region since
the MDGs were established.
 The region achieved a 20 percentage point increase in
the net enrolment rate from 2000 to 2015, compared to
a gain of 8 percentage points between 1990 and 2000.
 • The literacy rate among youth aged 15 to 24 has
increased globally from 83 per cent to 91 per cent
between 1990 and 2015. The gap between women and
men has narrowed
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary

education preferably by 2005, and in all levels of
education no later than 2015
 Many more girls are now in school compared to 15
years ago. The developing regions as a whole have
achieved the target to eliminate gender disparity in
primary, secondary and tertiary education.
 In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in
primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103
girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
 Women now make up 41 per cent of paid workers
outside the agricultural sector, an increase from 35
per cent in 1990.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates

 Reduce by two thirds the mortality of children under five

 The global under-five mortality rate has declined
by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths
per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2015.
 Despite population growth in the developing
regions, the number of deaths of children under
five has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to
almost 6 million in 2015 globally.
 Since the early 1990s, the rate of reduction of
under-five mortality has more than tripled
globally
Goal 5: Improve maternal health

 Reduce maternal mortality by three quarters

 Achieve universal access to reproductive health
 Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by
45 per cent worldwide, and most of the reduction has
occurred since 2000.
 In Southern Asia, the maternal mortality ratio declined by
64 per cent between 1990 and 2013, and in sub-Saharan
Africa it fell by 49 per cent.
 More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled
health personnel globally in 2014, an increase from 59 per
cent in 1990.
 In Northern Africa, the proportion of pregnant women who
received four or more antenatal visits increased from 50
per cent to 89 percent between 1990 and 2014.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other
diseases


Halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all
those who need it
• Halt and reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
• More than 900 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets
were delivered to malaria-endemic countries in sub-
Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2014.
• Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention,
diagnosis and treatment interventions saved an
estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate
fell by 45 per cent and the prevalence rate by 41 per
cent between 1990 and 2013.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

 Integrate principles of sustainable

development into country policies and
programmes; reverse the loss of
environmental resources
• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010,
a significant reduction in the rate of loss
• Halve the proportion of people without access
to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
• Improve the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-

discriminatory trading and financial system
 Address special needs of the least developed countries,
landlocked countries and small island developing States
 Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt
 In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide
access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
 In cooperation with the private sector, make available the
benefits of new technologies, especially information and
communications technologies
Sustainable Development
Goals
 To create a new, people-centered,
development agenda, a series of global
consultations were conducted both online
and offline. Civil society organizations,
citizens, scientists, academics, and the
private sectors from around the world were
all actively engaged in the process.
Targets
 The SDGs include 17 goals and 169 targets. Indicators are expected to come
out in March 2016. The 17 goals in abridged form are as follows:
 No poverty;
 Zero hunger;
 Good health and well-being;
 Quality education;
 Gender equality;
 Clean water and sanitation;
 Affordable and clean energy;
 Decent work and economic growth;
 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure;
 Reduce inequality;
 Sustainable cities and communities;
 Responsible consumption and production;
 Climate action;
 Life under water;
 Life on land;
 Peace, justice, and strong institutions; and
 Partnership for the goals.
Difference Between SDGs and MDGs
 There are seven major differences in MDGs and SDGs;
 MDGs were drawn up by a group of experts in the ‘basement of UN
headquarters’ whereas SDGs have evolved after a long and
extensive consultative process including 70 Open Working Groups,
Civil Society Organizations, thematic consultations, country
consultations, participation of general public through face-to-face
meetings and online mechanisms and door to door survey;
 While MDGs were focused with only 8 goals, 21 targets and 63
indicators, SDGs include 17 goals with 169 targets. An expert
analyses by noble laureates at Copenhagen consensus, suggest that
if the UN concentrates on 19 top targets, it can get $20 to $40 in
social benefits per dollar spent, while allocating it evenly across all
169 targets would reduce the figure to less than $10. Being smart
about spending could be better than doubling or quadrupling the aid
budget;
 MDGs had a focus on developing countries with funding came from
rich countries. All countries, developed or developing, are expected
to work towards achieving SDGs;
Continued
 The pillars of human development, human rights and equity are deeply rooted
in SDGs and several targets seven explicitly refer to people with disabilities,
six to people in vulnerable situations, and two to non-discrimination.
 These were not even mentioned in the MDGs; (iv) MDGs had 3 direct health
goals, 4 targets and 15 indicators with emphasis on child, maternal mortality
and communicable diseases. SDGs have one comprehensive goal
emphasizing well-being and healthy living including NCDs;
 MDGs had a time span of 25 years though adopted in 2002 baseline data for
the year 1990 was used and some of the baselines were revised subsequently
which shifted ‘the goal post’. For the SDGs, the baseline is from 2015
estimates.
 It may be revised as more recent data becomes available;
 SDGs include a vision of building vibrant and systematic partnerships with
private sector to achieve sustainable development. It builds on, UN Compact
which was launched in year 2000 and IMPACT 2030;
 MDGs had no concrete role for the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), whereas
SDGs have paid attention to this right from the framing stage itself with
significant engagement of civil society actors.
Challenges
 The four major challenges that need to be addressed for achieving the SDGs are as
follows:

 Some of the SDGs that have been costed show that the cost of the SDGs is huge. The
rough calculations have put the cost of providing a social safety net to eradicate extreme
poverty at about $66 bn a year,while annual investments in improving infrastructure
(water, agriculture, transport, and power) could be up to a total of $7 tn globally.
 A major conference on financing for the SDGs, held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in
July, failed to ease concerns that there will not be enough funds to meet the aspirational
nature of the goals.
 It included a recommitment to the UN target on aid spending 0.7% of gross national
income (GNI) set more than 40 years ago. Multilateral banks committed $400; Maintaining
peace is essential for development.
 A threat to international peace and stability by nonstate actors is emerging as a major
factor for both developed and developing countries. The recent crisis in Syria has forced
12 million people to leave their homes and made them refuges.
 Measuring progress: A number of targets in the SDGs are not quantified. The indicators for
measuring progress have not yet been identified. Even if they limit to two indicators per
target there will be 338 indicators to monitor and report.
 “Having 169 targets is like having no targets at all.”Measurability will depend on the
availability of data and capacity to measure them.
 Accountability: There was a lack of accountability for inputs into MDGs at all levels. This
challenge needs to be addressed in SDGs.
Conclusion

 MDGs helped in mobilizing international community, leaders,

politicians, civil society and sectoral ministries, and
departments to focus on achieving these time-bound and
measurably goals.
 We may not have achieved all these goals but have made a
substantial progress in saving lives and improving quality of
lives of millions of people within the country and globally.
 MDGs have been easy to relate, understand, communicate,
implement, and monitor, whereas SDGs, though to some
extent, are a continuation of MDGs, yet suffer from the
weakness of being too many and unwieldy to implement and
monitor.
 This has probably resulted from large consultative process
where everyone wants to see their areas of interest included.
.
Thank You