What are the WHO Millennium Development Goals and Why Should You Care?

The World Health Organization (WHO) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDs and malaria, eradicating extreme poverty, and developing a global partnership for development.  Why are these goals and their success or failure important to nurse practitioners?  In this rapidly globalizing world, the impact of health and disease affects not only the countries involved but every other corner of the world- the United States included.   Progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven. Some countries have achieved many of the goals while others are not on track to realize any.  The eight Millennium Development Goals include 21 specific targets  and a series of measurable indicators for each target.  Many of these goals and targets include or assess individuals’ access to health care, mortality and morbidity rates, and the state of nursing and other health care professions across the globe.  Indicators include targets such as: achieve by 2010  universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it; reduce by three quarters  the maternal mortality ratio; reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate; achieve by 2015; universal access to reproductive health.  A major conference was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York September 20-22, 2010 to review progress to date, with only five years left to the 2015 deadline.  The conference concluded with the adoption of a global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by their 2015 target date. There were also major new commitments on women's and children's health, and major new initiatives in the worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and disease. This presentation will give a brief overview of the Millennium Development Goals with an update on the recent conference and how we are doing in attaining the eight goals. Suggestions on how to incorporate this important topic into nurse existing practitioner curricula will be provided.