MILLENNIUM DEV GOALS : Bangladesh set to miss several components [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

MILLENNIUM DEV GOALS : Bangladesh set to miss several components

Local September 17, 2015

Despite a 15-year push since 2001, Bangladesh is headed to miss achievement of 100 per cent literacy and several other components of eight Millennium Development Goals.
Notable components in which the country would fail to meet the goals include zero dropout from primary schools, 20 per cent forest
coverage, ensuring 50 per cent share for women in wage employment and improved sanitation for all, shows a status report on the MDGs prepared by the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission.
Until now, only 31.6 per cent women are engaged in wage employment in non-agricultural sector.
With women holding 20 per cent of Parliament seats, Bangladesh is also set to miss the goal of keeping 33 per cent of Parliament seats for women.
The Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report 2015, was unveiled at a hotel in the capital, Wednesday.
In 2001, the United Nations set eight millennium development goals to be achieved by the member nations by 2015.
The status report claimed that Bangladesh achieved several components of MDGs, particularly, in reducing headcount poverty and poverty gap ratio, reducing the prevalence of underweight children, gender parity at primary and secondary education, under-five mortality rate reduction, containing HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs, children under five sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets.
Despite many successes, too many children are still out of the primary schools, the environmental sustainability is under severe threat, said GED Member Shamsul Alam while presenting the salient features of the status report.
Chaired by planning minister AHM Mustafa Kama, the function was addressed by finance Minister AMA Muhith, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali. state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman and UNDP country director Pauline Tamesis.
According to the report, the country is set to miss the goals of ensuring 100 per cent employment.
According to the report, the country could create employment for 57.1 per cent of the population in last 15 years.
Despite recent progress in extreme poverty reduction, increased income inequalities and low economic participation of women continue to pose challenges, said the status report.
The status report shows that the country cut down poverty to 24.8 per cent though it was required to reduce poverty to 29 per cent by 2015.
Muhith said that it took Bangladesh four years to achieve remarkable results in cutting down poverty compared to 15 years taken by the rest of the world to make comparable poverty cuts.
The country achieved gender parity in enrollment in primary and secondary schools but failed to do it in the university level.
Infant mortality and immunization remain as major challenges eluding the millennium development goals.
According to the status report, the country achieved the MDG for reducing the under five mortality rate.
The country is headed to miss the goal of 100 per cent immunization of one year old children measles, clocking 79.9 per cent coverage.
Childhood injuries and drowning emerged as a major challenge accounting for the deaths of 25 per cent children in the 1-4 age group, says the report.
The report shows improved sanitation facilities covers 64.2 per cent that is the country lags behind by 35.8 per cent.
Providing access to safe water for all remains a challenge, as aggravation of arsenic contamination and salinity intrusion due to climate change created challenges on the way of providing safe water to the poor, it said.
The planning minister said that Bangladesh deserved credit for it splendid job in several areas of the MDGs.