Cordillera millennium development goals

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

At this time, presidentiables are trying to beat their opponents in getting noticed by projecting themselves as having knowledge on anything under the sun like on millennium development goals.

Ask the average guy on the street if he has any idea what MDG’s are and most likely he would stare at you like you were an alien from Mars or a wacko. It is most welcome from somebody from government tries to explain this in plain terms.

According to Aldrin Bahit, of Philippine Statistics Authority-Cordillera Administrative Region, the MDG concept started when member states of the United Nations gathered at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 to shape a broad vision to fight poverty in its many dimensions.

That vision, he said, was formulated as MDGs that consisted of eight goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators, covering the period 1990 to 2015. 

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For the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), According to Bahit, it is likely to attain targets for only 50 percent of the 32 MDG “indicators” being monitored in the region. Notable among these is proportion of population below the food threshold, which was targeted by government to reduce by half by 2015.   

Food threshold, Bahnit said, refers to the cost of the food required to satisfy nutritional requirements for economically necessary and socially desirable physical activities. 

In 1991, 25 percent of the people in the region reportedly lived below the food threshold.  This significantly declined to 10 percent in 2012. 

“We have also made great strides in so far as attaining some of our targets in the health sector is concerned,” he said.  “The prevalence and death rates associated with malaria in 1991 were 7.6 and 15.6 percent, respectively.  By 2012, the Cordillera has attained the status of being a “malaria-free” region.   We have also greatly reduced the incidence of deaths related to tuberculosis by more than 81 percent from 1991 to 2014.”
To help attain these, the Cordillera Region’s government, non-government and civil society organizations have reportedly intensified implementation of MDG-related programs and projects especially those related to health, education and social protection.

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“Convergence and partnerships,” he said, were done among the Departments of Health, Welfare and Development, Education, Trade and Industry, Population Commission and National Nutrition Council and other government, with non-government and civil society organizations. 

 “However, while we have achieved remarkable gains, inequalities still persist and our progress can be described as uneven.  Our targets in ten indicators, particularly in the education and health sectors, have a low probability of being attained. For instance, we targeted that by 2015, at least about 87.8 percent of Cordillera households already have sanitary toilet facilities.  As of 2014, the DOH-CAR reported only 79.5 percent have access to these facilities.

“In the education sector, we looked forward to all elementary pupils completing primary education by 2015.  As of last year, DepED-CAR reports revealed only 77.2 percent of elementary pupils actually completed their primary education.

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                The non-attainment of these targets may be attributed to cultural and economic factors.  

According to DOH, some parents’ beliefs against immunization hinder them from availing of immunization programs of the government. Also, some parents, rather than send their children to school, would rather have them take care of their younger siblings while the parents attend to their small farm.  Some children are also forced to earn a living through por dia farming or small-scale mining  to augment the household’s meager income.

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In essence, the Cordillera Region, like much of the world, still has a lot of catching up to do, according to the PSA.

In September 2015, 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the Official Agenda for Sustainable Development.  To follow the 15-year MDG period, this Agenda involves the adoption of a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda.

“Together let us make this newly-adopted Agenda an opportunity to ponder on our MDG journey, reflect on what we have done so far, and rethink our strategies,” the PSC said, adding for more details on the latest MDG Status in the Cordillera Region, readers may visit the Regional Development Council site at car.neda.gov.ph.

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The Department of Health has urged the public not to be left out of the fight against human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) as part of the observance of World AIDS Day.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said they have strengthened their partnership with other government agencies such as the Department of Education and community-based groups to boost public awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Garin said they were reaching out to the younger generation, which is most vulnerable to infection.

Earlier, the DOH reported that some 133,000 Filipinos would acquire the AIDS virus by 2022, costing the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. some P4 billion yearly for the outpatient HIV treatment package alone.

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Garin said this expenditure would increase each year unless the country is able to stop new HIV infections.  

The DOH documented a total of 6,552 individuals diagnosed with HIV from January to October this year. The figure is 37 times higher than the 174 individuals diagnosed with HIV for the entire year in 2001.

In 2000, one HIV case was diagnosed every three days. This year, one case has been detected every hour.

In Baguio alone, Health authorities said the number of AIDS cases have significantly risen over the years with most cases involving men having sex with other men.

In a message for the World AIDS Day commemoration, United Nations Joint Program against HIV/AIDS executive director Michel Sidibé said the world has committed to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

“This ambitious yet wholly attainable objective represents an unparalleled opportunity to change the course of history forever –something our generation must do for the generations to come,” Sidibé said.

“Today, we live in fragile communities where inequities can persist when essential services don’t reach the people in need. To change this dynamic we must quicken the pace of action,” he added.

Sidibé said the world has what it takes “to break this epidemic and keep it from rebounding to prevent new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths and to eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

“We have reached 15.8 million people with life-saving treatment. And increasingly we are able to refine our efforts and be more precise in our ability to reach people who might otherwise be left behind,” he added.