Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals are the document developed and accepted by the United Nations in 2000. The specificity of this program is the design of not only eight goals to achieve but also measures for estimating the success of the initiative. The major objective is to foster the positive development of the world in the new century, thus making human lives better. 2015 was identified as the deadline for reaching all of the goals. Eradication of poverty and hunger is the first goal to achieve. The objective was to halve the number of people living on less than $1 compared to 1990. This goal is achieved by 2014 mainly due to the rapid economic growth of such countries as India, China, and other developing countries. Achieving universal primary education for all children was the second goal. Nevertheless, 58 million kids around the globe still do not have access to schools. The third goal is the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment, expanding their opportunities in work, education, political participation, social and family relations, and access to nutrition. This goal is mainly unachieved. Reducing child mortality by two-thirds compared to the 1990 level was the fourth goal. As for now, the number of child deaths has almost halved. So, the goal is not achieved as well.
The fifth goal is improving maternal health by decreasing the level of maternal deaths by 75% compared to 1990. The overall drop is around 45%. Combating HIV, malaria, and other diseases are the sixth goal. Even though there was significant progress in treating malaria and tuberculosis, more than 2 million people get infected with HIV annually. Ensuring environmental sustainability is the seventh goal. Providing access to clean drinking water, improved sanitation, smart transport and energy, and reduced impact on the natural environment are the measurements of success. Although businesses made tremendous progress in decreasing the influence on the natural environment, only less than one-third of people around the globe have access to the mentioned amenities. Finally, the eighth goal is developing a global partnership for cooperation by financing underdeveloped countries and working together to overcome critical challenges. International institutions seem to cope with the task of financing, although there are other issues that are difficult to overcome such as resolving conflicts and the millennium goals themselves (Hite & Seitz, 2016; The World Bank, 2017). So, it is essential to note that the global community failed to achieve all of the goals except for eradicating poverty and hunger. Nevertheless, compared to 1990, progress is astounding.
Globalization: Negative and Positive Aspects
Globalization is the process of creating the global community – one that is critical for fostering positive development in the world – by means of establishing international organizations and signing international treaties. It is paramount to mention that there are both negative and positive consequences of globalization. Increased volumes of international trade and production, which entailed faster economic growth, freedom of labor migration entailing labor mobility, economic, political, and social integration of most countries around the globe, increase in economic efficiency, eradication of corruption, reducing crime rates, poverty, and hunger are just some of the positive aspect of globalization. Still, there are such negative impacts of this process as the movement of facilities and educated and skilled workforce to developed countries due to the rise of corporations, destroying poor economies by the rich ones because of the operation of multinational enterprises, the growing gap between the rich and the poor as well as losing nations’ autonomy. In addition, the growing economic interdependence of the states makes all of them vulnerable to the spillover effects of economic crises. Moreover, globalization eradicated uniqueness due to the promotion of western lifestyle and the establishment of global culture. Finally, increased mobility of the workforce and freedom of traveling contribute to the faster transmission of diseases as well as make crime control more complicated (Hite & Seitz, 2016).
References
Hite, K. A, & Seitz, J. L. (2016). Global issues: An introduction (5th ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley.
The World Bank. (2017). Millennium development goals. Web.