South Asia to fall short on the Millennium Development Goals

April 8, 2008 - A new World Bank-IMF report, Global Monitoring Report: MDGs and the Environment—Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development, warns that most countries in South Asia will fall short on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight globally agreed development goals with a due date of 2015. Though much of the world, including South Asia, is set to cut extreme poverty in half by then, prospects are gravest for the goals of reducing child and maternal mortality, with serious shortfalls also likely in primary school completion, nutrition, and sanitation goals.

Health

Malnutrition

- While much progress has been made in reducing under-five malnutrition, South Asia will likely not reach the goal of halving its incidence. South Asia has the highest incidence of child malnutrition; the child malnutrition rate in India is double the African average. The risk of malnutrition increases with high food prices.

- South Asia actually has a slightly higher incidence than Sub-Saharan Africa of moderate stunting, but a lower incidence of severe stunting this is part of the malnutrition piece.

Maternal Health

- The percentage of births attended by skilled personnel is low in South Asia (41 percent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (46 percent).

Child Mortality

- South Asia is also off track for reaching the MDG child mortality target.