2. Outline
MDGs Current status
What are the sustainable development goals
Health related SDGs
Critique
3. MDGs 20002015
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
4. According to the UN MDG Report 2012, the
proportion of people living on less than $1.25 has
decreased from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008
(from 2 to 1.4 billion).
This indicates that Target 1 – Halve the proportion
of people living on less than one dollar a day –
will be reached by 2015.
7. Limitations of MDG
1. Limitations in the MDG development process
2. Limitations in the MDG structure
3. Limitations in the MDG content
4. Limitations in the MDG implementation and
enforcement
8. 1. Limitations in the MDG
development process
Amin (2006) describes, driven by the triad ‘United
States, Europe and Japan’, and co-sponsored by the
World Bank, International Monetary Fund and
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD).
According to Eyben (2006), the gender target was
restricted to parity in education because the Japanese
representative would not agree to broader targets
originally proposed by the gender specialists.
A small number of UN members influenced the initial
rejection of a reproductive health goal.
9. Several authors believe that for political reasons
some ‘hard-fought goals’ got left behind, such as
the importance of reproductive health
The MDGs of ‘gender equality and the
empowerment of women’ were narrowed down to
gender equality in education, and the target for
‘affordable water’ was dropped from the MDG list
in order to allow for privatisation in the sector.
10. 2. Limitations in the MDG
structure
Multiple authors call the goals ‘overambitious’ or
‘unrealistic’ and believe the MDGs ignore the limited
local capacities, particularly missing governance
capabilities
Creating a list of goals – a ‘shopping-list approach’ –
risks the omission of important issues and
underinvestment in other key areas of development
Focusing of development efforts on such a reduced
list of goals and neglecting their interconnectedness.
For example, having separate maternal and child
health goals results in separating strongly linked
maternal and newborn issues
11. Making MDGs national priorities without the initial
participation and consultation of developing
countries has led to a lack of national ownership
for the goals
12. 3. Limitations in the MDG content
Missing goal for reducing inequality within and
between countries.
Missing focus on the ‘poorest of the poor’, masked by
using national averages or aggregated information.
Target of decreasing gender disparities is not the
same as ending gender inequality since focus is
reduced to numerical imbalances, whereas
substantive asymmetries are left unaddressed
Civil, political or human rights are not represented
enough in the MDG framework
13. 4. Limitations in the MDG implementation
and enforcement
‘Little evidence of feasibility in low-income
countries’
data on school completion are difficult to obtain
because enrolment data are usually collected at
the beginning of the academic year, ignoring
attendance and drop outs.
Quantitative MDG targets also rely on
epidemiological and monitoring tools that many
countries lack, and even if available, data are not
necessarily comparable across countries because
of different compilation methodologies or
definitions.
14. Authors criticise the MDG framework for
promoting ‘quick-fix’ solutions and short-term
planning instead of sustainable global
management goals and structural changes
16. On 19 July 2014, the UN General Assembly's
Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) forwarded a proposal
for the SDGs to the Assembly. The proposal
contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a
broad range of sustainable development issues.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
officially known as Transforming our world: the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
19. • End poverty in all its forms everywhereGoal 1
• End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 2
• Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all agesGoal 3
• Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all
Goal 4
• Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girlsGoal 5
• Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and
sanitation for all
Goal 6
• Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern
energy for all
Goal 7
• Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full
and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 8
• Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable
industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 9
20. • Reduce inequality within and among countriesGoal 10
• Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainableGoal 11
• Ensure sustainable consumption and production patternsGoal 12
• Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impactsGoal 13
• Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
Goal 14
• Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 15
• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels
Goal 16
• Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership
for sustainable development
Goal 17
21. Targets of the Health Goal
• By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70
per 100 000 live births
• By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under
5 years of age
• By 2030, end the epidemic of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected
tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, waterborne diseases and
other communicable diseases
Related to
MGD
• By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non
communicable disease through prevention and treatment and
promote mental health and well-being
• Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse,
including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol
• Strengthen implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control in all countries as appropriate
• By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road
traffic accidents
NCDs and
injuries
22. • Focus on high burden countries, building on the
regional initiative “Saving the lives of mothers and
children”, and on countries in emergency
• Developing strategic plans for reproductive, maternal,
neonatal and child health for all countries with an
equity lens
Reproductive,
maternal,
neonatal and
child health
• Increasing treatment coverage of HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria
• Developing regional action plans for HIV, malaria and
tuberculosis
Communicable
diseases
23. • Support research and
development of vaccines
and medicines for the
communicable and non-
communicable diseases
that primarily affect
developing countries
Research
24. • Implementing the regional framework for
action on advancing universal health coverage
(population coverage, financial protection
and service coverage)
• Ensuring access to quality essential health
services and to safe, effective, quality and
affordable essential medicines and vaccines
Universal
health
coverage
• Adoption of a collaborative multi-agency
approach to reduce deaths and illness from all
hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil
pollution and contamination
Environmental
health
25. Critique
A report by the International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI) of 2013 criticized the
efforts of the SDGs as not ambitious enough.
Instead of aiming for an end to poverty by 2030,
the report "An Ambitious Development Goal:
Ending Hunger and Undernutrition by 2025"
by Shenggen Fan and Paul Polman calls for a
greater emphasis on eliminating hunger and
undernutrition and achieving that in 5 years less,
by 2025.
26. Jason Hickel of the London School of Economics
has criticised the SDGs for being contradictory,
arguing that in seeking high levels of global GDP
growth, they will undermine their
own ecological objectives.
He also notes, in relation to the headline goal of
eliminating extreme poverty, that "a growing
number of scholars are pointing out that $1.25 is
actually not adequate for human subsistence,"
and the poverty line should be revised to as high
as $5.
27. Preliminary Critique of SDG’s
(Bhumika Muchhala and Mitu Sengupta)
• formulated in an undemocratic manner with little
meaningful input from civil society and developing
countries
• contributed to the shrinking of national policy
space in developing countries
• merely addressed the palliative symptoms of
poverty while wholly ignoring the structural drivers
of under-development
• disproportionately burdened the poorest countries
of the world while demanding very little from rich
countries, and other influential agents, such as
international financial institutions and
multinational corporations.
