The Millennium Development Goals, How Realistic Are They? |
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Authors: | Michiel Keyzer Lia Van Wesenbeeck |
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Institution: | (1) SOW-VU, Centre for World Food Studies, Vrije Universiteit, De Boetelaan 1105, 1081 Amsterdam, HV, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Summary In its Millennium Declaration of September 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), to be
reached in 2015 through concerted efforts worldwide. According to UN-calculations, the estimated costs in terms of additional
development aid of meeting the MDGs in all countries vary from 121 billion US dollars in 2006 to 189 billion US dollars in
2015. The present communication reviews the figures reported. It appears that while Asia is well on track to achieve the goals,
essentially through efforts of its own, Africa is lagging behind, albeit that according to detailed survey data on weight-for-length
among adults collected in Africa for the US aid agency, rates of undernutrition are about 58 percent of the levels used as
a reference by the UN, which are based on assessment of food production. Yet, child undernutrition comes out higher in these
surveys. Besides mentioning reservations about the adequacy of these MDG-yardsticks, we consider the cost estimates for Africa
as presented in the UN-reports and subsequently assessed in the literature. It appears that these estimates are too low, even
if all MDG-funds were concentrated on this continent, essentially because they are set up as shopping lists that are necessarily
incomplete and, among others, disregard many of the indirect cost of delivering the goods to the target beneficiaries, including
the cost of providing adequate security and avoiding corruption. Nonetheless, recalling how hopeless the situation looked
some 30 years ago for China, India, and Bangladesh, where unprecedented numbers have now escaped extreme poverty during the
past decade and a half, we submit that over a time horizon of about twice the 15 years of the MDG’s and with adequate international
support, realization of the MDG-targets should be possible for Africa too.
An erratum to this article can be found at |
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Keywords: | MDG development aid |
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