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The Millennium Development Goals; A Global Assignment

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DOI: 10.17795/semj35479

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Shiraz E-Med J. 2016 January; 17(1): e35479. doi: 10.17795/semj35479
Published online 2016 January 27. Review Article

The Millennium Development Goals; A Global Assignment

1 2,* 2 2
Hassan Joulaei, Najmeh Maharlouei, Reza Tabrizi, and Kamran B. Lankarani
1HIV/AIDS Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran
2Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran

*Corresponding Author: Najmeh Maharlouei, Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran. E-mail: [email protected]

Received 2015 September 1; Accepted 2015 November 15.

Abstract
Context: The millennium development goals (MDG) are global committed efforts to provide anti-poverty and disparity document. During
the past 15 years and based on MDGs, nearly all countries have made efforts to achieve its related goals. Therefore, the current narrative
review aimed to analyze the MDGs’ challenge and achievements with the focus on Islamic Republic of Iran.
Evidence Acquisition: This study was a non-systematic narrative review conducted through studies and reports published from 2000 to
2015, about MDGs’ progress worldwide, compared to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Results: According to the review, almost all countries have had remarkable improvement in all MDGs. Among them Iran’s achievements
are significant in five goals out of eight, but to reach the goals number 6 and 7 related to HIV/AIDS control and environmental sustainability,
Iran has a rough way to go. The challenges that countries are facing to reach MDGs are slow growth outlook, limited resources, institutional
reforms deficiency, insufficient development capacity, unequal income distribution, global economic situation especially during the past
five years, absence of political commitment to the MDGs, lack of supportive environment to attract private sector for investment and
development and the last but not least un-inclusive growth.
Conclusions: All countries reported improvements in MDG indicators, while SDGs has opened new doors of opportunity for countries to
promote their socio-economic status.

Keywords: Millennium Development Goals, Mortality, Health, Iran

1. Context
The United Nations millennium summit was one of the However, during the past 15 years and based on MDGs
largest conferences of the world leaders that would play a nearly all countries have made efforts to achieve the relat-
decisive role in sustainable development. The millennium ed goals (1, 4, 5). The annual international reports on MDGs
development goals (MDG) are global committed efforts show such a movement. Of course, depending on socio-
to provide anti-poverty and disparity document (1). Mil- economic and political situation of each country the rate
lennium summit agreed on a set of short term achievable of achievement could be different. Furthermore, at the
goals and also goals to combat poverty, hunger, disease, end of MDGs’ year, when the reported results from com-
illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination mitted countries are looked back, there are many unre-
against females. The world leaders committed themselves ported or neglected indicators that the governments have
to achieve these goals by the year 2015. One key attainment not paid attention to them. This issue reveals the fact that
of the present millennium development goals is the extent the governments’ approach to MDGs was selective and not
to which they have mobilized community and political all goals had the same value for them (goal 7). It might be
support for growth (2). Other advantages include, MDGs due to the phenomenon that the majority of MDGs need
are reasonably easy for governments, the MDGs are not a international coalitions and infra-structures rather than
set of legally binding obligations, but rather a moral and domestic or single sector approach. That is why an over-
practical set of obligations. MDGs can be found through view of what is done for MDGs so far could help to find the
practical and specific measures taken by governments, future way and set the best attainable goals with the best
business and civil society worldwide (3). But some various planning approaches. Therefore, the current review aimed
reasons for the lack of progress towards the MDGs are dis- to analyze the MDGs’ challenges and achievements with
cussed in the literature. A holistic and comprehensive ap- focus on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
proach to define a wide range of goals and targets includ-
2. Evidence Acquisition
ing poverty and environment, health and literacy, gender
equity and international collaboration is approaching and
targeting the global issues, uniformly. This study was a non-systematic narrative review ex-

Copyright © 2016, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCom-
mercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial us-
ages, provided the original work is properly cited.
 Joulaei H et al.

plained by Green et al. (6). This review was conducted undernourished people was less than 5% in 1990, report-
through studies, and, reports published prior to 2015, ed no change in the given time (1).
about MDGs’ progress worldwide compared to that of Regarding target 1, Iran was successfully reduced the
the Islamic Republic of Iran. The research strategy was poverty, as the proportion of people earning below $1.25
planned using the electronic databases such as Medline, per day decreased by 71.8% from 1990 to 2007. In the sec-
Pubmed, and Google Scholar, as well as Iranian Farsi ond target, Iran was successfully reduced the prevalence
sources including Iranmedex, SID, and Magiran. More- of underweight children aged under five years old by
over, websites such as world health organization (WHO) 66.9% from 1990 to 2004 (5).
and united nation (UN) were searched to recognize any
contests regarding the MDGs. Keywords in this review 3.1.2. Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
included; “millennium development goals (MDG)”,
In 1990 the worst condition was in sub-Saharan Africa
“eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”, “achieve uni-
and Oceania, where respectively 52% and 69% of children
versal primary education”, “promote gender equality
had the chance of enrolment in primary schools. How-
and empower women”, “reduced child mortality”, “im-
ever, at the end of 2015 the most improvement was re-
prove maternal health”, “combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
ported by sub-Saharan Africa (35%), followed by Oceania
other diseases”, “ensure environmental sustainability”,
(28%) and southern Asia (26%). It should be mentioned
“sustainable development goals” and “challenges and
that the highest rate of primary school enrolment was
achievements”. At the end, the perspectives of health pol-
claimed by north African countries, where not only had
icymakers and experts were used for a narrative synthesis
19.2% progress in this index, but also possessed the high-
and interpretation of the findings.
est rate of primary school enrolment (99%) among all the
developing and developed countries. Furthermore, they
3. Results outpaced both the developing and developed regions;
97% compared to 12.1% and 96% improvement in primary
The results of this study were presented in two parts. In
school enrolment, respectively (1).
the first part, the latest information about the progress
In goal 2, Iran had brilliant performance as its net ra-
rate in each goal of MDGs was presented; both globally
tio in primary education was 99.7% in 2004, even higher
and for Iran. In the second part contributing factors of
than the achievement rate of north African countries.
successes and challenges of MDGs progress were ana-
Moreover, it reported 11.4% improvement in literacy rate
lyzed.
of 15 - 24 year-old women and men; 87% in 1991 promoted

3.1. Part A: Progress Rate in the MDGs

to 96.6% in 2006 (5).

3.1.3. Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower

3.1.1. Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger Women
To monitor the rate of achievement in goal 1, three tar- One of the targets was “eliminating gender disparity
gets were set. First, reducing the proportion of people in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005
who earn less than $1 per day; and in all levels of education by 2015”.
The proportion of people with less than $1.25 per day in- Overall, developing countries reported acceptable pro-
come is globally reduced by 62% from 36% in 1990 to 12% in gression in gender parity index for gross enrolment ra-
2015. Excluding Oceania, due to unavailability of data, all tios in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Of all
regions reported a reduction in extreme poverty and hun- the developing regions, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa
ger. The most prominent reduction rate was reported by could not reach this target in any of the primary, second-
China (94%), south eastern Asia (84%) and northern Africa ary or tertiary education by 2015. Also, none of the re-
(81%). The only region where MDG 1 was not achieved was gions could report gender equality in enrolment in any
sub-Saharan Africa and western Asia, since they reported of the three educational levels by 2015. Besides, statistics
reduction rates of 28% and 46%, respectively. of the developing regions showed that the most gender
The other target of MDG1 was halving the rate of people inequality was reported in tertiary education that the
that are hungry. Choosing proportion of undernourished male students outnumbered the female counterparts,
people as an indicator revealed that developing regions 65% versus 31%, respectively (1, 5).
reported aggregate decrease of 43%. In fact, all Asian re-

3.1.4. Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

gions reported some improvement except for western
Asia where a 33% increase in the frequency of undernour-
ished people was reported. In addition, other regions The first target made to monitor goal 4 was at least 66%
that failed to reach this target were sub-Saharan (30% de- reduction of under-5 mortality from 1990 to 2015. While
creases), Caribbean (26% reduction), southern Asia (33% both developed and developing countries recorded sig-
decrease) and Oceania (12.5% decrease). Besides, northern nificant decrease in under-5 mortality, 61% and 53%, re-
Africa and the developed regions, where percentage of spectively, just eastern Asia (78% decrease), Latin America

2 Shiraz E-Med J. 2016;17(1):e35479

 Joulaei H et al.

and the Caribbean (69% reduction), and northern Africa north Africa was supposed to face a 62.5% increase in HIV
(67% decrease) reached this target. On the other hand, incidence. This pattern was relatively estimated to occur
the least improvement was reported by Oceania (31% de- in Asian regions too. While southern Asia was conjec-
crease) followed by sub-Saharan Africa (52% reduction). tured to show a 48.3% reduction in HIV incidence, south-
As the United Nation report estimated, considering that eastern was hypothesized to halve the HIV incidence. Fur-
a remarkable achievement is yielded since 1990, a decade thermore, Latin America and the Caribbean were the only
is needed to achieve this target globally (1). regions that succeeded to achieve this target (1). Compar-
Iran can claim being successful in goal 4. According ing the data regarding antiretroviral therapy coverage
to the publicly available records, Iran achieved the first showed an upward trend in Middle East and north Africa;
target, decreasing under five mortality, before 2012, as 10% in 2000 to 48% in 2014. Moreover, females had higher
the ratio of mortality of the children aged under-five per coverage rate compared to males, since they have more
1000 live births decreased from 73 in 1990 (7) to 18 in 2012, frequent contact with healthcare workers, due to perina-
a 75.3% decrease. In the second target, reducing infant tal and children care (11).
mortality rate (IMR) per 1000 live births, Iran reached the The other target set to reach goal 6 was ceasing and
target by 2008 as its IMR dropped from 55 per 1000 live initiating to turn down the incidence of malaria and
births in 1990 (7) to 15 per 1000 live births in 2012, which other major diseases. Based on the estimated figures, the
is about 72.7% decrease (8). incidence of malaria as well as its mortality rate (58.3%)
plummeted, 37.4% and 58.3%, respectively. It could be due
3.1.5. Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health to the worldwide attention to the catastrophic effects of
malaria on global health.
The first target was 75% reduction of maternal mortality
Tuberculosis was another contagious disease estimated
rate (MMR) between 1990 and 2015.
to reach the target globally in incidence, prevalence and
This target needs more endeavor. Except for some coun-
mortality rate from 1990 to 2015 (1).
tries such as Iran and Maldives (7), neither developing
Regarding HIV/AIDS section of goal 6, it seems that Iran
nor developed regions could achieve this target by 2015;
was not successful to cease the spread of HIV. According
37% and 46% MMR reduction, respectively. While the best
to the data revealed by UNAIDS (11) newly detected HIV
improvement was reported by eastern Asia, 65% decrease
infected patients were estimated to increase from 5400
in MMR, the least improvement was reported by Carib-
(3300 - 8300) in 2000 to 7400 (4300 - 16000) in 2014. In
bean regions (36% decrease).
other words, Iran, Somalia and Sudan together account
The second target was universal access to reproductive
for nearly three-quarters of all new infections in the Mid-
health. Monitoring this target, the indicator was the pro-
dle-East and north Africa, while Iran reported the highest
portion of pregnant mother visited four times or more
rate; about one-third of the whole data.
by skilled health providers. While the best recorded im-
In Iran, antiretroviral therapy coverage among people
provement belonged to south-east Asia (91% increase), the
with advanced HIV infection was reported 3% in 2006,
best net report belonged to Latin America and the Carib-
which increased into 8% in 2014 (12).
bean regions (97%). As data reveals, the best second im-
Another indicator of goal 6 was the notified cases of
provement was reported by north Africa (78%); while the
malaria per 100,000 population. Based on the released
least belonged to sub-Saharan Africa 4.2% increase in this
data, Iran had improvement in case finding from 18 per
target by 2014 (1).
100,000 population in 2008 (5) to 243 per 100,000 popu-
Iran succeeded to achieve the first target of goal 4 by
lation in 2012 (13). Given the increase in the ratio of de-
2008, seven years in ahead. MMR in Iran had plummeted
tected patients affected by malaria, no patient died due
from 150 maternal deaths in 100,000 living birth in 1990
to malaria (14).
to 30 maternal deaths in 100,000 living birth in 2008 (5).
The last two indicators of goal 6 were incidence, preva-
Although Iran achieved the first target of the goal 5, the
lence and mortality rates of tuberculosis (TB) cases and
MMR varied in different provinces (9, 10).
the success rate of cure in those detected and treated
3.1.6. Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other
under directly observed treatment short (DOBTS) course.
The data indicated that the incidence rate of TB (in
Diseases 100,000 population) was 36 in 1990 (5), which decreased
Some targets were considered to monitor this goal. The to 21 in 2013 (15).
first target was to cease and start to reverse the dissemi- Also, the prevalence of TB (in 100,000 population) de-
nation of HIV/AIDS. According to estimated data, devel- creased from 48 in 1990 (5) to 30 in 2008 and 23 in 2013 (16).
oped regions were supposed to show no improvement The death rate induced by TB infection (in 100,000 pop-
in halting their HIV incidence, but to face 11.8% increase. ulation) had some fluctuations from 1990 to 2013. It de-
In contrast, developing regions were expected to encoun- creased from 5 in 1990 to 2.9 in 2008 and remained stable
ter 71.8% decrease in HIV incidence. The most prominent till 2010, when it increased with a mild slope and reached
decrease in statistics was estimated to occur in African 3.2 in 2013 (16).
regions, especially in southern Africa (48.9%), although In the last indicator, TB treatment success rate under

Shiraz E-Med J. 2016;17(1):e35479 3

 Joulaei H et al.

DOTS, Iran had reported invariable rate from 1996 to economic growth challenges in low and middle income
2007; 83% (5). countries and their development partners to sustain
their achievements.
3.1.7. Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability A major criticism of the MDGs, is that they are a donor-
led agenda and pay little attention to local context, par-
To ensure the environmental sustainability to reach
ticularly missing governance capabilities (18, 19), MDGs
the goal 7, countries were recommended to denote the
miss out on crucial aspects of development (19) including
rules and regulations of persistent development. Also,
climate change, the quality of education, human rights
they committed to merge the rules into their policies to
and democracy, economic growth, infrastructures, good
alter losing environmental resources. Although devel-
governance, peace, disarmament and security (7, 20).
oped regions reduced the rate of greenhouse gas emis-
MDGs ignore the poorest and most susceptible, masked
sion by 3.7%, production of CO2 in the developing regions
by using countrywide averages or aggregated informa-
doubled. According to the statistics, global emission
tion (21). The eye caching progress in MDGs is reporting
of greenhouse gas showed no decrease, but in contrast
the average number of indicators for a country or region.
grew by 53% in the given time.
It can show just the average progress of the country or
The second target was to prevent the loss of biodiversity
region and not merely the situation of the different parts
by preserving land and marine life. In this regard devel-
of the society from the point of social determinant of
oping regions overtook developed regions, both in per-
health view. And that’s why monitoring and evaluation
centage of changing and in net percentage.
of inequality within and between the countries is recom-
As the report of 2015 reveals, the best improvement was
mended (22).
attained by Latin America and the Caribbean with 1.65
MDGs focus on only three aspects of health (child and
times improvement followed by Oceania (1.5 times).
maternal mortality, and special infectious diseases) is in-
Iran was not noticeably successful to attain targets of
adequate and a universal goal of ‘freedom from illness’
goal 7 (1).
is lost; however, health has an important function within
As reports declared, among all indicators set to evalu-
MDGs structure (23). Primary health care is an integral
ate the countries’ achievement rate in goal 7, Iran had
part of economic and social development. Its principles
remarkable improvement in reducing consumption of
are in line with those of MDGs: social equity, community
ozone-depleting substances (63.5%) and protection of ter-
participation, and promoting the inter-sector collabora-
restrial and marine areas (33.3%). However, Iran reported
tion. Public health is necessary to eradicate poverty and
poor function in some other indicators such as, CO2 emis-
achieve MDG. Public health approach is a crucial issue to
sions per capita (70% increase from 1990 to 2007), propor-
the problem of sustainable development and is increas-
tion of total water resources used (12% increase from1990
ingly urgent to break the vicious cycle created by the tri-
to 2005), and proportion of the population consuming
angle of environmental degradation, poor health, and
improved drinking water sources (22.2% decrease from
poverty (24). Another important concern is the impact
1990 to 2000). In the rest of indicators no subtle changes
of the MDGs on research, data processing and interpre-
are reported (5).
tation. Since institutionalized targets may lead to abuse
3.2. Part B: Analysis of Successes and Challenges
and manipulation of the data (25).

Factors
Iran is classified in the middle income countries, and
the average progress of MDGs in Iran (6) is much higher
The challenges countries facing to reach MDGs are slow than average rate of the same ranked countries (3.96).
growth outlook, limited resources, institutional reforms Fortunately, in four goals of MDGs out of eight, Iran had
deficiency, insufficient capacity development, unequal remarkable progress. Good infrastructures of health
income distribution, global economic situation especial- network system (MOU) resulted in significant progress
ly during the past five years, absence of political commit- of maternal and child health care. Increasing trend of
ment to the MDGs, lack of supportive environment to at- people’s education level due to the encouraging policy
tract private sector for investment and development and of the government has brought the best results regard-
the last but not least un-inclusive growth (5). ing MDG2. Moreover, Iran’s GDP per capita rose from 1990
Today’s world is full of bad news, conflicts, disasters, and to 2014 (about 1700 US$ - 6800 US$) which in turn led to
emergencies and wars especially in the Middle East, Afri- develop the economic situation of the people and reduce
ca, and Ukraine (4, 5, 17). These factors provoked chaotic the poverty as an average (26). Although, Iran ranked 130
situation not only in those areas but also they could affect out of 136 countries regarding gender gap index it met
other parts of the world and accordingly each achieve- the targets of MDG3 (5, 27). As for MDG6, Iran attained
ment would not be sustainable. Lack of community remarkable outcome for malaria and TB control (13).
awareness, participation and inter-sector collaboration However, the last formal report of the ministry of health
has abducted an important part of power and resources and published articles suggest that HIV/AIDS epidemic
to achieve MDGs goals especially in the developing world increased in Iran due to the progressive prevalence of
(4, 5). Leveraging partnerships is a good remedy for low risky behavior trend, along with stigmatization (11, 28).

4 Shiraz E-Med J. 2016;17(1):e35479

 Joulaei H et al.

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