Thursday, January 1, 2015

Water in Millennium Development Goals (MGDs)



Millennium Development Goals
In 2000, the United Nation Millennium Summit established an eight common international goals in its 189 country members (193 currently) following the adoption of the United Nation Millennium Declaration. The goals was established in the area of poverty and hunger; universal primary education; gender equality; child mortality; maternal health; HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases; environmental sustainability and global partner for development. These eight different goals are called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The summit developed targets and dates for achieving those targets. The member countries and at least 23 international organizations committed to help achieve the above mentioned millennium development goals by 2015.

Drinking Water in Millennium Development Goals
In goal seven (c) of Millennium Development Goals, there is a target which states that the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation will be reduced halve by 2015. After the declaration, the World Health Organization and UNICEF has started joint monitoring program to assess the achievement/improvement in water supply and sanitation program. These organizations defined the criteria of improved drinking water sources to allow for international comparability for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs). The World Health Organization and UNICEF joint monitoring program defines "improved" drinking water sources as follows:
·         Piped water into dwelling
·         Piped water into yard/plot
·         Public tap/standpipes
·         Tube well/ boreholes
·         Protected dug wells
·         Protected springs (normally part of a spring supply)
·         Rainwater collection
·         Bottled water, if the secondary source used by the household for cooking and personal hygiene is improved
Water sources that are not considered as "improved" are:
·         Unprotected dug wells
·         Unprotected springs
·         Vendor provided water
·         Cart with small tank/drum
·         Bottled water, if the secondary source used by the household for cooking and personal hygiene is unimproved
·         Tanker-truck
·         Surface water

Where is Achieved so far?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF joint monitoring program for water supply and sanitation (JMP), between 1990 and 2010 more than 2 billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells. Using data from household surveys and censuses, the JMP said at the end of 2010, 89% of the population – 6.1 billion people – now used improved drinking water sources, 1% more than the 88% target contained in millennium development goal (MDG) number seven, set in 2000. It is estimated that, 92% of the world’s population have now access to safe water sources. However, about 8 % of the world total population are still without access to safe drinking water.

It is not Over Yet
The achievement in access to safe drinking water source through the MGDs program is overwhelming and praise worthy but we can’t be fully satisfied from those data and achievements. The data collected only measured access to improved water sources, those that adequately protect the source from outside contamination, rather than assessed the quality, or reliability of the water supply, or whether water sources were sustainable. That means 89 % of the world’s population have only improved water sources but we cannot ensure that those improved water sources have good water quality, reliable source of water supply and safe for drinking. The report do not have periodic and standardized water testing data. These limitations and information gap suggest that reported number of people using safe water supplies has been overestimated. Hence, the water supply can’t be termed as improved without water quality data.

Similarly, the world has still huge regional disparities in access to drinking water supply. The program achieved great success in China and India where half of the 2 billion people have gained access to drinking water since 1990. At the same time, many countries in Africa are not on track to meet the target by 2015 and some countries actually falling back to pre-1990 rates of coverage. More than 40% of all people globally who lack access to drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, there are stark variations between urban and rural areas. The report said an estimated 96% of the urban population globally has improved water supply sources, compared with 81% of the rural population. This means 653 million people in rural areas lack improved water sources.

What Lies Ahead
The program is going to end in 2015. However, the world has to come up with another concerted program that fills the limitation and data gap of MGDs. All the partner agencies should galvanized efforts strongly as a unit in all countries. The program should focus on providing the cost-effective, periodic and standardized water testing facilities in all member countries where program was successful in providing access to drinking water. Similarly, there should be a novel program to the remaining countries where people have no access to improved drinking water sources. The successful efforts to provide greater access to drinking water is a spirited instrument for improving the lives of millions of the poorest people.

Sources
1.      United Nation Development Program/MDGs/Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2012
2.      World Health Organization/Media Centre/Fact Sheets

3.       World Federation of United Nations Associations 

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