The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
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What are the MDGs?
In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of Heads of State ushered in the new millennium by adopting the United Nations (UN) Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, translates into eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be reached by 2015. These goals build on agreements made at UN conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.
The MDGs assume an international, sector-wide approach, recognising the contribution that developed countries can make through trade, development assistance, debt relief, access to essential medicines and technology transfer.
Three out of eight goals, eight of the 16 targets and 18 of the 48 indicators relate directly to health. Health is also an important contributor to several other goals. The significance of the MDGs lies in the linkages between them: they are a mutually reinforcing framework to improve overall human development. For a full description of the MDGs see http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals
The MDGs envision progressive sustainable development vitalised by health and education and, although they do not say everything that needs to be said about health and development, given the breadth of international sign-up to the MDGs no-one can say with any credibility that development is just about economic growth.
| Goal 5: Improve maternal health
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| Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
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16. Maternal mortality ratio
17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
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Reflecting the need for a cross-sectoral approach to successfully address the broader determinants of maternal health, safe motherhood initiatives, including programmes run by Maternity Worldwide, target as many as five of the eight MDGs:
United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Image from http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml
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