Er det mulig å nå milleniumsmål nr. 4? : Om reduksjon av barnedødeligheten i lavinntektsland

Abstract

At the UN summit meeting in 2000, 189 countries made a commitment of a broad set of health and development goals with defined targets to be achieved by 2015. In our thesis we have focused on one of these Millennium development goals (MDG), number 4. The target of MDG 4 is to reduce the mortality in children younger than five years by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. Estimates and statistics tell us that child mortality globally will not be reduced by two thirds by 2015. The reduction is too slow. However, there has been a marked reduction of child mortality in the world in the latest decade. The child mortality was reduced by one third by 2009. This is an optimistic tendency. When it comes to child mortality, studies show that we can achieve a lot without much costs and efforts. Mosquito nets to avoid malaria and trained staff attending deliveries in rural areas are some of the examples of low costs and effective measures. We have studied some intervention projects in different parts of the world that have made a great reduction in child mortality. The sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Eastern Asia are the areas that struggle the highest child mortality rates in the World. The situation is complex. Poverty, war, diseases, maternal mortality, lack of health staff and medicines all make it difficult to avoid children from dying. Multifactor solutions are necessary. It is important to put action on infrastructure, education, and reducing poverty just to mention some. The Millennium goals make a common ground for international cooperation and developmental politics. We look at the case of Norway for a glance to how development politics respond to the challenges and goals set forward by the UN.