CAIRO: With five years until the 2015 deadline, Egypt has made substantial progress towards reaching its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a recent report said. The Egyptian Ministry of Economic Development, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), recently unveiled its newest report, entitled “Egypt's progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.” The MDGs consist of eight important, interconnected goals that are intended to address the most pressing issues that countries like Egypt are currently facing. One goal that the country has already achieved, even through financial downturn, is cutting the number of people living in extreme poverty in half. The report contributes this success to the Egyptian government's stimulation of overall economic growth, as well as to the enactment of policies that specifically target the poor. “This new report marks an end to the unwarranted misunderstanding of poverty rates in this country," said Minister of State for Economic Development Osman Mohamed Osman, adding that current poverty rates are less than half of what they were in the 1990s. Osman also commented that Upper Egypt continues to be the most underdeveloped part of the country, and requires that intensive development efforts be made by the government. While the situation of extreme poverty has improved, there is still concern over eradicating and improving lives of people who are still suffering from hunger on a daily basis. The report stated that the number of children under five years old that were underweight had decreased from 9.9 percent to 6 percent during the period of 1992 to 2008. The report also suggested that if relevant food subsidy programs are expanded, Egypt should be able to meet its goal by 2015. Universal primary education is another goal the report suggested could be achieved by the 2015 deadline, but the major obstacle within this target is the children that are not attending school or that are dropping out of school altogether. Since 1995, the number of children (between six and 12 years old) attending school had gradually risen from 83 percent to 90 percent in 2008. It was also found that the number of girls attending school increased by 10 percent. In an effort to modernize traditions, Egypt has committed itself to the third goal of minimizing the gap in gender equality that currently exists by focusing upon female empowerment. It has been found that in education, the enrollment of girls has surpassed that of boys and that the gender gap in literacy is close to being achieved. With the help of a quota system for women in Parliament, women holding public office seats have increased from 7.7 percent in 1988 to 24.1 percent in 2008. While women presently do not hold key positions — such as governor — and the number of female ministers is very small, the report suggests that progress is indeed being made. “If the gender goals are not achieved, the presence of women in the political arena will be greatly affected,” stated Abdel Aziz Sayed, lead author of the 2010 Egypt MDG report. The health-based MDGs that need to be met include reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. One program that has been established to help with maternal health and child mortality is the “Healthy Mother, Healthy Child” project, which was established in 1993 to help reduce the risk factors associated with maternal and natal mortality. This project has significantly helped improve the number of successful births and healthy mothers in nine governorates in Upper Egypt — a region that has the reputation of having the worst health statistics. “The mortality of kids and mothers are found to be related, and we are striving to improve the conditions as well as to improve pre-natal healthcare,” said Sayed. Sayed also commented on the effort to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, malaria as well as a as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and tuberculosis. The report noted some progress in combating the diseases with the “success of rolling back malaria, tuberculosis regressing, and the prevalence of schistosomiasis showing a steady decline.” Goals seven and eight are dedicated to ensuring environmental sustainability and to developing a global partnership for development. The effort to improve sources of drinking water has been a goal already achieved, but the report also “recommends reconsidering the definition of ‘improved drinking water sources' to ensure the quality aspects.” “We are working with pharmaceutical companies to provide access to affordable drugs, making the benefits of new technologies available, and to allow access to the market,” said Sayed. “I am pleased to note that Egypt is already pursuing most of the recommendations from the action agenda, based on an international assessment, including taking leadership on the MDGs, investing in education, health, water and sanitation, and scaling up targeted interventions such as in the 1000 villages program,” said James Rawley, UNDP representative to Egypt. “Egypt is on the road to achieving these goals by the deadline in 2015, as well as surpassing them to achieve [its] ambitious national development goals.”
