Examining the MDGs and How they Influenced Health Factors

How the MDGs Work to Change Factors of Health

Through Dr. Richardson’s Global Health course I have come to the conclusion that the factors that effect peoples health can be divided into two categories. These categories are biological determinants and social determinants (Richardson). Within these categories there are various levels of importance. For example, things such as access to clean water or level of income are social determinants that play a huge role. Conversely, something like the quality of the air is still an important social determinant of the health of that area but is trumped by the previous two examples. I believe this as a good portrayal of the Millennium Development Goals and the issue of Public Health as a whole.  Because the goal is to prevent disease and promote health in addition to prolonging life, certain issues do not receive the attention they need in order to eliminate the negative outcomes they cause (Richardson). Despite the lack of space, there is also a lot of redundancy in the endeavors that take place. By attacking one problem from multiple angles there is a greater chance of solving that problem, especially when though problems are systematic. The Millennium Development Goals utilize this principle in Goals 3-5 (Richardson). 

Goals 3-5 of the Millennium Development Goals respectively deal with: gender inequality, child mortality and maternal health (Richardson). It is fair to say that gender inequality towards females is one of the main factors that causes poor maternal health which leads to child mortality. Instead of consolidating these 3 issues into a single Goal, the UN decided to expand the issue of women’s health into separate categories. The effect is an increase in the surface area that the woman’s health issue has. This is a reflection of several facts, first and foremost that women have been living with minority rights on a global scale. Secondly, the fact that woman are being oppressed has not been given its due diligence. By expanding the issue the Millennium Development Goals were able to shine a spotlight on woman health, primarily maternal health. The result is a greater likely hood that the factors that effect woman’s health will improve.

Since 3 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals focus on woman’s health, it is the focus of the document. However, underneath the 8 Goals there are 15 Targets. The Targets are tangible benchmarks that are to be met that signify the success of each goal. For example, Goal 1 has two Targets: halving the number of people living on $1 a day and halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Tangentially, the Targets often interact with each other, even Targets in other Goals. Goal 2 is to achieve universal primary education. The Target set for Goal 3 uses education to assess the eradication of gender disparity (Richardson). 

The total effect of the Millennium Development Goals on health is positive. Its main contribution is highlighting the issue of maternal health. Personally, I think that the factors that greatly influence maternal health such as education and access to health care are factors that will have wide spread benefits such as but not limited to employment, increased innovation in poorer countries, perhaps even less actual violence because people would rather spend time with their children in a safe environment. However, despite this rose-tinted outlook the Millennium Development Goals do not directly fund anything. They can be cited and quoted but the primary way that the Millennium Development Goals will effect health is through providing direction for the United Nations. In meeting any Target by the deadline assigned, 2015, one could say that is a miracle. I don’t think it is shocking to say meeting all 15 Targets by that deadline would require a series of divine acts not seen in recorded history. Not because they are outrageous but because the structure which our civilization is built on requires human capital. As a result, the successor of the Millennium Development goals are the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations). These represent the success and the failure of the Millennium Development Goals. The success is their ability to bring awareness to specific health issues and frame Public Health as a set of problems that can be solved using a tiered system. However, the continuation shows that health inequality did not become a systemic problem slowly and will not cease to be one slowly either. 

Work Cited

Richarson, D. (2015). PHE 444 Global Health Slides. Portland State University, OR: Dawn  

          Richardson.

United Nations: 2015 is the Time for Global Action. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2015, from United

          Nations website: un.org/sustainabledevelopment/