Asia-Pacific Region Lag in Reaching Antipoverty Goals

On October 8, 2007, the United Nations publicly released a report in which assessed the progress of the Asia-Pacific region on reaching the antipoverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Results from this report have clearly shown that Asia and the Pacific are well on track and ahead of its peers in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce extreme poverty by half, attain universal education, and achieve gender parity in education by the target year 2015. Nevertheless the report seemingly yields mixed results as well. Some of which have made surprising correlations between antipoverty progress between Asia and the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Based on findings within the report, parts of the Asia-Pacific region are severely lagging behind Africa in achieving specific MDGs. In fact, statistics show that Asia and the Pacific accounts for about two thirds of the world's underweight children. More than one in four children under the age of five is underweight. Furthermore, maternal deaths in Asia and the Pacific are anything but satisfactory. The region accounts for almost half of the global total, according to the report, The Millennium Development Goals: Progress in Asia and the Pacific 2007. The region's overall maternal mortality ratio, at over 300 per 100,000 live births, is more than 30 percent higher than in Latin America and the Caribbean. Unfortunately, these rates in many Asian countries exceed those of its regional counterparts.

According to a joint publication by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), “The region's greatest challenges lie in addressing the issues of child mortality, malnutrition, improving maternal health and providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.” Haishan Fu, the Chief of the Statistics Development Section for UNESCAP believes, “The 2007 MDG progress report gives us an indication of what the region stands to gain if we intensify our efforts to meet the MDGs. We need to focus on those countries that are moving slowly or not making progress, and within those areas concentrate on improving the lives of the most vulnerable.”

Therefore, despite Asia and the Pacific’s monumental success in making progress towards achieving the MDGs, this report explicitly shows that even the most accomplished regions have much work to do before 2015. As the deadline quickly approaches, Asia is struggling to better the condition of the impoverished. When basic necessities of a healthy life like safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are not present, it’s practically impossible to lift millions of people out of poverty. Consequently, regions all over the world continue to struggle with the MDGs. Ultimately, when the most successful regions are having difficulty making progress, it puts into questions whether or not these goals can actually be completed.