Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific: Relevance and Progress

Abstract

There are eight MDGs. Numerical targets have been set for each goal, which are to be achieved for most goals by 2015 with 1990 as a baseline year (See Box). Indicators, which may be adjusted for particular countries and regions as appropriate, have been selected to monitor progress towards each of the targets. The first seven goals—directed at reducing poverty in all its forms—are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. The last goal—global partnership for development—seeks to strengthen the means to achieve the first seven. In the Pacific, some additional indicators and targets may be warranted, while other indicators may be less relevant. For instance, in most of the Pacific developing member countries, there has been a significant increase in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases or so called “life-style diseases” such as diabetes and hypertension. It would be appropriate to add a country- or regionspecific target and indicators to measure the incidence of life-style diseases under Target 8 – “to have halved by 2015, and begun to reverse, the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.