Millennium Development Goals and Status of Health Services in Morigaon District of Assam

Abstract

The proposal of the Millennium Declaration in 2000 by all United Nations Member States marked an historic moment, as world leaders committed to tackle extreme poverty in its many dimensions and create a better life for everyone. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) translate this commitment into a framework of measurable goals and targets by which progress can be measured. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development. Among these eight goals three goals are directly related to human health. As a first step in Assam’s Model District, Morigaon, the project has created a multi-sectoral team of health, nutrition, water, and education officials to focus activities on maternal and child health. The project also focused on improved training for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), the critical community based health workers that mobilize women and children for health services within the villages. The project will also focus on training nurses in better antenatal care delivery, which is vital for lowering the risk of maternal death, and will introduce mobile phone technologies so that data can be collected—and mothers and babies tracked-throughout rural areas that are difficult to access.