CAIRO: Halfway through the time set for meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations released a report discussing the progress made thus far in Africa and Western Asia, with North Africa making significant strides towards the goals set to be achieved by 2015. The report was published at the request of the General Assembly to address the goals set while identifying areas where intervention is needed. The North African region is approaching the target of cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015. Moreover, the number of undernourished children under the age of five decreased from 11 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 2006. However, the report indicates that progress in reducing hunger might now be undermined by recent worldwide increases in food prices. Concerning education, the report said that the region is on track to reach the target of universal primary education by 2015 and also made strides in reducing the gender gap with 93 girls enrolled per 100 boys in 2006. If that progress is sustained, the report claims, the region will achieve parity in primary education. Another area where progress is evident is female representation in parliament which almost tripled between 1990 and 2008, but with only 8.3 percent of seats held by women. However, North Africa is the only region that showed no progress in income earning opportunities for women; the proportion of paid jobs outside agriculture held by women has remained unchanged for 16 years with only 22 percent of women of working age employed in any sector. The impact of efforts to reduce maternal deaths is indicated by the larger number of deliveries attended by skilled health care personnel which increased from 49 percent in 1990 to 79 percent in 2006 that resulted in the decrease of maternal deaths from 250 cases per 100,000 in 1990 to 160 in 2005. In Western Asia, the report says, there has been very little progress in eradicating extreme poverty as new estimates of extreme poverty indicate that the proportion of people living below the new poverty line of $1.25 a day increased in the region during the 1990s and slightly decreased between 1999 and 2005. "The achievement of full and productive employment and decent work for all has been recognized as an indispensable condition for poverty eradication and is now a new target among those to be met to fulfill all MDGs, the report indicates. Gender parity in education remains low, especially at the secondary level. In spite of some increase in women's representation in parliaments, there are still countries in the region where women have no representation at all. The report also points to the slight progress made in maternal deaths. In Western Asia, the number of maternal deaths decreased from 190 to only 160 per 100,000 live births. And about one fourth of deliveries still took place without the assistance of skilled health personnel. The report states, after a decrease in the 1990s, adolescent fertility rates have stagnated between 2000 and 2005, at 50 births per thousand, for women 15-19 years old which jeopardizes opportunities for education and socio-economic advancement. However, Western Asia has made some gains in the health care, child mortality, wider access to safe drinking water, sanitation and the rapid access to the internet from four per 100 to 13. A high profile event convened by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, will be held on Sept. 25 in New York with nearly 100 heads of state or government are expected to attend. The event will be the first summit level gathering on the MDGs since 2000, when world leaders committed to the goals laid out in the Millennium declaration to be achieved on 2015.
