What's Millennial about the MDGs? Discursive Boundaries of Public Health in Southeast Asia

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-33
Author(s):  
Lynn Thiesmeyer

The Millennium Development Goals are framed within the post-war discourses of development that also gave us Basic Human Needs and Human Security. The Goals set out a consideration of the failures of earlier strategies along with an agenda for the accelerated reduction of poverty and its accompanying human insecurities. Though the more critical aspects of the MDG discourse were sorely needed, they also left space for the repetition of earlier top–down development strategies, and, more generally, for a (re)vision and wider implementation of globalised intervention by developed countries into the less-developed. In this discourse developed countries identify needs on the part of the less-developed and then supply these needs. The ‘need’ discourse focussed on here represents inferior public health that requires services, goods and equipment to be provided by developed countries; what it ignores are negative health consequences that can arise from development schemes themselves.

2007 ◽  
Vol 09 (01) ◽  
pp. 121-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
WIJANTO HADIPURO

All the United Nations' members have already committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce by half the proportion of 1.1 billion people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. The problem is that with all the limiting capacities, which half should be prioritized and what kind of policy intervention can be used to achieve the goal. This paper proposes a methodology on water supply vulnerability assessment, specifically for meeting basic human needs. Based on the impacts to the five assets owned by a certain household and the causes of the lack of access, the policy intervention can be tailored made as to what problems the community faces. Hopefully the method can be used by multilateral donors or agencies and all levels of government to focus on a certain community or area that should be prioritized to meet the MDG target.


2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (173) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhinav Vaidya ◽  
N Jha

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are international objectives on poverty reduction adopted by the world community and provide the broad context for this revolution in thinking and practice. The MDGs place a central focus on public health, in recognition of the fact that improvements in public health are vital not only in their own right but also to break the poverty trap of the world's poorest economies. Nepal has been committed to achieving the MDGs since it endorsed the Millennium Declaration. As we have at present just passed the midway through the 15 years to MDGs deadline of 2015, this article reviews the status of Nepal in achieving the MDGs, the challenges it faces and whether it can achieve the MDGs by 2015.Key words: development, goals, health, millennium, Nepal


2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1028-1036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Roma ◽  
Paul Jeffrey

Acceptance and adequate use of water and sanitation technologies in least developed countries is still a chimera, with one billion people using unimproved water supply sources and 2.5 billion not benefitting from adequate sanitation. Public participation in water and sanitation planning and pre-implementation phases has become increasingly important for technology providers seeking solutions to implementation challenges towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Based on the principle that successful implementation of WATSAN technologies ultimately depends on recipients' ability to absorb a technology and adapt it to their own needs, this study analyses the impacts of participatory methods adopted by community-based sanitation (CBS) providers on communities' receptivity of the transferred systems. A fieldwork activity was undertaken in Indonesia and a multiple case study approach adopted to analyse indicators of receptivity of the transferred technologies. Conclusions show that community involvement through participatory methods in the implementation of CBS systems can enhance the process of acceptance and management of the technologies, thereby increasing the progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Pawlowski ◽  
Ute Schüttoff ◽  
Paul Downward ◽  
Michael Lechner

In contrast to the popular policy claim that sport might serve as vehicle to meet the Millennium Development Goals, empirical evidence based on large-scale survey data is largely missing. We use panel data based on a cohort of children and employ propensity score matching to identify the effects of sports participation on child development in Peru. Our findings suggest that participation in a sports group has positive impacts on subjective health and a measure of social capital. However, and in contrast to developed countries, we find no statistically significant effects on well-being and human capital formation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-29
Author(s):  
Alfred Oehlers

Current discussions around the lack of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals tend to emphasize deficiencies in governance as a major contributory factor. While agreeing with this assessment, this paper takes issue with the conventional understanding of what “governance” implies. Using Burma as an illustration, it suggests the current focus on purely administrative and organizational concerns must be broadened to encompass the wider political context in which these Goals are to be pursued. Authoritarian political structures must be confronted and challenged, if these worthy Goals are to have any realistic chance of being attained.


1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
José-Pablo Arellano

In many countries the government plays an important role in the provision of several basic human needs. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in these social policies. In less developed countries, the question of income redistribution and poverty alleviation strategies has led to a ‘basic needs’ approach. This strategy attempts to satisfy a minimum consumption basket of the poor through government intervention. intervention. On the other hand, in some developed countries a revision of the ‘welfare state’ conception – at least in terms of its future growth – is under way. Alleged inefficiencies, work and savings disincentives and the high tax burden it requires are among the criticisms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 634-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luz Maria De-Regil ◽  
Juan Pablo Peña-Rosas ◽  
Rafael Flores-Ayala ◽  
Maria Elena del Socorro Jefferds

AbstractObjectiveNutrition interventions are critical to achieve the Millennium Development Goals; among them, micronutrient interventions are considered cost-effective and programmatically feasible to scale up, but there are limited tools to communicate the programme components and their relationships. The WHO/CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) logic model for micronutrient interventions in public health programmes is a useful resource for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these interventions, which depicts the programme theory and expected relationships between inputs and expected Millennium Development Goals.DesignThe model was developed by applying principles of programme evaluation, public health nutrition theory and programmatic expertise. The multifaceted and iterative structure validation included feedback from potential users and adaptation by national stakeholders involved in public health programmes’ design and implementation.ResultsIn addition to the inputs, main activity domains identified as essential for programme development, implementation and performance include: (i) policy; (ii) products and supply; (iii) delivery systems; (iv) quality control; and (v) behaviour change communication. Outputs encompass the access to and coverage of interventions. Outcomes include knowledge and appropriate use of the intervention, as well as effects on micronutrient intake, nutritional status and health of target populations, for ultimate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.ConclusionsThe WHO/CDC logic model simplifies the process of developing a logic model by providing a tool that has identified high-priority areas and concepts that apply to virtually all public health micronutrient interventions. Countries can adapt it to their context in order to support programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation for the successful scale-up of nutrition interventions in public health.


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