Exactly 999 days from today – Saturday April 6 — the official date set for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals will expire on December 31, 2015.
While compiling a ground report on the status of the achievement of various MDGs target, UNICEF concluded that though state had not been able to produce enthusiastic results towards achieving the MDGs but it stands better chances to achieve at least three of the goals provided “the State pushed little for it”.
According to UNICEF, three of the eight MDGs that State can bring to the level set by MDGs are, first, ‘universal primary education’ second, ‘improved under five mortality rate’ and third, ‘improved maternal mortality ratio’.
MDGs are social and human development goals, set in 2000 by united nations and to be achieved by 2015 (except a few targets like achieving gender parity in primary and secondary school education by 2005, universal access to treatment of HIV-AIDS by 2010, improvement in the lives of at least 10 crore slum dwellers by 2020, etc).
UNICEF State Job Zachariah said that State didn’t lack infrastructure required to achieve three said goals and it needed just bit of extra effort from Government.
Talking about the primary education, he said that there were schools and also teachers in good number – though not sufficient. But there has to be monitoring at the school level on the presence of teachers and students in the schools.
Giving reference to Annual Status of Education Report he said that 98 percent of the students have got enrolment in primary education but the attendance was as low as 52 percent. “This could be improved with efficient monitoring,” he said.
The State has been able to achieve under five mortality rate of 59 deaths (per thousand live births) as per American Housing Survey 2011. But this is dismal compared to the MDG target that aims to bring the said mortality rates to 42 per thousand live births.
On the front of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) Jharkhand features quite dismal. While it records MMR of 261, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS 07-09) the MDGs target is 109.
UNICEF suggested that targets on the two aforesaid fronts could be achieved if State did at least three things.
First, institutional delivery is increased to 80 percent from the current level of 40 percent. Second, anaemia is prevented in pregnant women and brought significantly below current level of 70 percent prevalence. Third, newborn babies are fed cholesterol rich milk of their mother within one hour of birth. “And these are not difficult,” Job said.