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| Sunday, 03 August 2003 |
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Sri Lanka on its way to achieving millennium development goals by ASIFF HUSSEIN Sri Lanka is well placed to achieve the UN millennium development goals by 2015 given its present performance which is well ahead of its South Asian neighbours in many respects. As may be gathered from the recently released UNDP Human Development Report 2003 titled 'Millennium development goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty', Sri Lanka performed fairly well in the seven millennium development goals born of the historic Millennium Declaration adopted by 189 countries at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The seven goals - ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the incidence of major diseases to enrolling children everywhere in primary schools by 2015 - are said to be transforming development with governments, aid agencies and civil society organizations everywhere re-orienting their work towards achieving these goals. Sri Lanka's performance, especially compared with the rest of South Asia is remarkable, though much more remains to be done, especially with regard to gender empowerment, disease control and poverty alleviation, on the part of both Government as well as Non-Governmental Organisations. The ongoing peace process seems set to facilitate the progress made in this connection and it is therefore imperative that it be pursued with enhanced vigour. As the Report makes clear, the Goals are achievable with the right policies and sufficient resources. But the real power of the Goals is political. They are the first global development vision that combines a global political endorsement with a clear focus on, and means to engage directly with, the world's poor people. Seven goals The seven goals include 1) Eradicating extreme poverty by halving between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day 2) Achieving universal primary education by ensuring that children everywhere irrespective of their sex will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling 3) Promoting gender equality and empowering women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015 4) Reducing child mortality by reducing by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate 5) Improving maternal health by reducing by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio 6) Combating malaria and other diseases by halting and reversing its incidence by 2015 7) Ensuring environmental sustainability by integrating sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reversing the loss of environmental resources. With regard to goal 1 (Eradicating extreme poverty), we find that the proportion of the population living below $1 a day in Sri Lanka between 1990-2001 was 6.6 which compared favourably with the rest of South Asia including Pakistan (13.4), India (34.7), Bangladesh (36.0) and Nepal (37.7). With regard to Goal 2 (Achieving universal primary education), we find that the youth literacy rate in 2001 was 96.9 percent in Sri Lanka which compared well with India (73.3 percent), Nepal (61.6 percent), Pakistan (57.8 percent) and Bangladesh (49.1 percent). With regard to goal 3 (Promoting gender equality and empowering women), we find that Sri Lanka had a ratio of 0.94 girls to boys in primary education and 1.03 in secondary education in 2000-2001 which compared well with Bangladesh (0.96 and 0.99),Nepal (0.79 and 0.69), India (0.77 and 0.66), and Pakistan (0.55 and 0.63). The ratio of literate females to males in 2001 was 1.00 for Sri Lanka compared with India (0.82), Bangladesh (0.71), Pakistan (0.60) and Nepal (0.57). However with regard to the seats in parliament held by women as a percentage of the total, we find Sri Lanka with a mere 4 percent in 2003, compared with Bangladesh (2 percent), Nepal (6 percent), India (9 percent) and Pakistan (22 percent). With regard to goal 4 (Reducing child mortality), we find that in 2001, the infant mortality rate per 1000 live births in Sri Lanka was 17 compared to Bangladesh (51), Nepal (66), India (67) and Pakistan (84). The under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births in 2001 was 19 for Sri Lanka, compared to Bangladesh (77), Nepal (91), India (93) and Pakistan (109). With regard to Goal 5 (Improving maternal health), the maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births in 1995 for which year the figures are available was 60 for Sri Lanka compared to Pakistan (200), India (440), Bangladesh (600) and Nepal (830). With regard to goal 6 (Combating major diseases such as malaria), the malaria-related mortality rate per 100,000 people in 2000 was 9 in Sri Lanka, which compared badly with Nepal (8), Pakistan (4), India (3) and Bangladesh (1). The tuberculosis-related mortality rate per 100,000 people in 2001 was 11 in Sri Lanka which compared well with Nepal (28), India (42), Pakistan (45) and Bangladesh (56). With regard to Goal 7 (Ensuring environmental sustainability) Sri lanka had 30 percent of its land area covered by forests in 2000, compared to Nepal (27.3), India (21.6), Bangladesh (10.2) and Pakistan (3.1). The consumption of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons in OPD or Ozone Depleting Potential metric tonnes in 2001 was 190 for Sri Lanka compared with 94 for Nepal, 805 for Bangladesh, 1,666 for Pakistan and 5,614 for India. Findings Taking these findings into consideration, we find that although Sri Lanka was well ahead of its South Asian neighbours with regard to income, literacy, gender equality in education, child and maternal survival and environmental sustainability, it did not fare well in female representation in the legislature as suggested by the meagre number of seats held by women in parliament and in disease control with regard to malaria as suggested by its relatively high malaria-related mortality rate. These problems could however be easily addressed by adequate measures even in the short term. Though Sri Lanka's income levels compare very favourably with the rest of South Asia, there is nevertheless a population of about 6 percent still living below the poverty line of $ 1 a day which may take longer to redress or even to halve as set out in the Millennium Development Goals. A permanent solution to the ethnic conflict as a result of the ongoing peace process could however help significantly reduce this incidence of poverty by diverting valuable financial resources otherwise spent on the war to important development activities especially targeting the poorer sections of the population. All it requires is the political will to make it work. |
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