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Environmental conservation is an acknowledged precondition for the sustainable development of any country, whether developing or developed. Like other countries of the world, Bangladesh is seeking to ensure sustainable development through appropriate policies, structures and processes of environmental governance. In response, this note addresses the present state of environmental governance in Bangladesh, with significant gaps being identified in the government's progress concerning the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. The challenges for the government involve the imbalance between economic growth and environmental conservation, the weak enforcement of rules and regulations, the lack of organisational coordination, responsiveness and responsibility, and the shortfalls in the mobilisation of required resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Neglected Tropical Diseases" (NTDs) are lesser-known diseases, existing in the poorest communities in the shadow of the high-profile and well-funded "Big Three" (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria). Blame for neglect is pointed towards protagonists, which include pharmaceutical companies, for not investing in diseases of poverty and donor governments and NGOs, for directing attention to high mortality diseases. Yet, other sites of neglect tend to be ignored, such as global governance priorities. Exclusion of NTDs from the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2000 started the ball rolling for an advocacy campaign to raise these diseases higher up the global health agenda. The MDG omission was used as a frame by advocates to highlight neglect and led to inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, set out in 2015, now include NTDs alongside HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases in a goal to end epidemics by 2030. However, reframing based on a concept of neglect was not sufficient to ensure a place at the top of global health priorities. The NTD problem also needed to be made measurable, with metrics set in evidence-based logic, to provide a rationale for intervention and track progress towards quantifiable success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equitable and universal provision of safe and affordable water is one of the Sustainable Development Goals, but progress has been slow, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents a case study of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to highlight water access progress at the city scale. Using household surveys and interviews with officials, it explains improvements in hours of water availability and numbers of household water connections, but also discusses the remaining challenges with water cost and customer satisfaction. To achieve the goal of universal access, the city must further increase water production and address concerns with how water quality is monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the early 1980s, over 2.1 billionpeople werefacing a hopelessfuture bygetting by on less than $3.10 a day (and sometimes as little as $1.90 a day) despite living in a world of over-abundance. Given the impact of indigence on world stability and human solidarity, winning thefight againstpoverty is a critical issuefor all people, whether rich or poor. Using proxies representing social and political pressuresfaced by governments striving toward development, we measure the impact of public governance on poverty decrease. We explain why most poor countries seem to be failing in their development initiatives, or, at the 'very least, are caught in an impasse. Using a sample of 177 countries in 2016, regressions are run to test the impact of public social governance on poverty. On average, poor countries underperform compared to rich ones. We suggest why weak public social governance can be a serious impediment to national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Health Diplomacy has been instrumental in achieving many of the world's global health goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals. The new Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious, and all tools need to be employed to make sure they are achieved by the 2030 deadline. This paper reviews the successes and failures of the health-related Millennium Development Goals. It uses the lessons learned to put forward a sustainable approach toward the Sustainable Development Goals, and explores the role of Global Health Diplomacy in advancing the health goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bilge Strateji is the property of BILGESAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study examines the impact of Millennium Development Goals-Microfinance scheme (MDGs-MFS) on the entrepreneurial development of Youths in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria for the period of implementation of MDGs-MFS in FCT between 2008 and 2015 with cross-sectional data. The main objective of the study is to empirically determine the impact of MDGs-microfinance scheme on the entrepreneurial development of youths in FCT communities. The study employs both primary and secondary data obtained from the beneficiaries and FCT-MDGs/microfinance banks using copies of questionnaires administered on 86 youths across the six Area Councils and policy files/documents respectively. The study introduces one dependent variable of entrepreneurial development proxied by the income status/level of the beneficiaries after the scheme and two independent variables, microfinance loans and loan repayment. The method of research adopted is survey; the study used both inferential and descriptive statistics by employing the techniques of multiple regression analysis tested at 5% significant level which comprises of ANOVA, correlation test and the co-efficient of regression. The findings revealed that the MDGs-microfinance scheme has significant positive impact on the entrepreneurial development of youths in the six area councils of FCT covered. The paper therefore recommends the use of MDGs-type microfinance scheme to the other 768 local governments and other tiers of government in Nigeria in order to ensure rapid entrepreneurial development, economic prosperity, poverty reduction and wealth creation through the medium of the microfinance scheme for the youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 1997 marked the beginning of a new era in UK International Development Policy. • Unprecedented levels of support from both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor helped raise the new Department's profile both at home and abroad. • Policy coherence in Education programmes during DFID's first ten years was sometimes undermined by conflicting initiatives and priorities. The establishment of DFID and the emergence of a new policy of international development counts as one of the major achievements of the first ten years of the Labour government, 1997–2007.Clare Short's leadership brought a commitment and a vision to DFID's emerging identity, but support from Blair and Brown was also crucial in carving out a decisive role for the new Department nationally and internationally. ' Joined up government ' was an important strategy embraced by the Labour Government, with both Blair and Brown having a particular interest in development issues. The Education sector demonstrates how different initiatives helped to shape DFID's evolving policy, but were sometimes in contradiction when other policy initiatives came to the fore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern economies, the advancement of well‐being of the citizens should be in an inclusive and sustainable way. In this respect, the sustainable welfare targets should exclusively include three main pillars: economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. These pillars consist of qualitative and nonmonetary, as well as monetary and quantitative indicators to monitor. Although sustainable development today is well‐appreciated in most governments' agenda, yet it is generally not a trivial task to measure its progress especially due to multidimensional nature of some targets. In this article, sustainable development is measured by using a wide range of indicators within multidimensional perspective of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015. Indicators cover wide spectrum of areas such as poverty reduction, health, education, gender equality, and environment. An index creation method is developed for measuring the level and the performance of countries' progress through achieving MDGs. The index score levels and the rankings of countries are compared with similar indexes developed by United Nations. Finally, countries are classified according to their achievements relative to other countries (which is measured by the index) versus their self‐achievement performances (in terms of improvement of the index over years) in a big matrix. Results demonstrate the importance of measuring country performances in both dimensions. Understanding the progress in MDGs can help settle on binding targets for achieving the country specific goals in economic and noneconomic areas and on the mechanisms to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030, which set amid on the success of MDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target 7c of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 7c) aimed to halve the population that had no sustainable access to water and basic sanitation before 2015. According to the data collected by the Joint Monitoring Programme in charge of measuring progress towards MDG 7c, 2.6 billion people gained access to safe water and 2.3 billion people to basic sanitation. Despite these optimistic figures, many academics have criticised MDG 7c. We provide an overview of this critique by performing a systematic literature review of 62 studies conducted over the MDG implementation period (2002–2015) and shortly after. Our objective is to contribute to the debate on the operationalisation of the Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation (SDG 6). The academic debate on MDG 7c mainly focused on the effectiveness of the indicators for safe water and sanitation and on the political dynamics underlying the selection of these indicators. SDG 6 addresses some of the concerns raised on the indicators for safe water and sanitation but fails to acknowledge the politics of indicator setting. We are proposing additional indicators and reflect on the limitations of using only quantitative indicators to measure progress towards SDG 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction and use of online social media networks in education has provided a variety of unique methodologies in support of teaching, learning, and knowledge gathering. The presence of these networks has created opportunities to hear the voice of the teacher. This study explores how teachers and officials from a rural district in South Africa used the WhatsApp platform as a virtual community of practice to aid in monitoring and support after attending a professional development programme. The data used in this study was collected from the WhatsApp conversations held amongst teachers and officials. This data was analysed within the conceptual framework of social learning and social networking. The findings derived from this study show that the effective use of an online social media network to support a virtual community of practice is dependent on the participants' awareness of the context within which the community exists and the willingness of the participants to accept differing views and opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research intends to learn the capacities provided by the public policy of Peru to women, as individuals, their households or their place where they live in order to prevent maternal mortality. A brief summary of maternal health policies over the 25 years of the Millennium Development Goals is presented, underlining the most important ones such as Proyecto 2000 and ParSalud. Thirteen in-depth interviews were held with public servants, academics and activists, among others. The interviews suggested that the increase in infrastructure as well as in deliveries in which culture was respected have decreased maternal mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provided the framework for global development efforts transforming the field now known as global health. The MDGs both reflected and contributed to shaping a normative global health agenda. In the field of global health, the role of the state is largely considered to have diminished; however, this paper reasserts states as actors in the conceptualisation and institutionalisation of the MDGs, and illustrates how states exerted power and engaged in the MDG process. States not only sanctioned the MDGs through their heads of states endorsing the Millennium Declaration, but also acted more subtly behind the scenes supporting, enabling, and/or leveraging other actors, institutions and processes to conceptualise and legitimize the MDGs. Appreciating the MDGs' role in the conceptualisation of global health is particularly relevant as the world transitions to the MDGs' successor, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs' influence, impact and importance remains to be seen; however, to understand the future of global health and how actors, particularly states, can engage to shape the field, a deeper sense of the MDGs' legacy and how actors engaged in the past is helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does gender equality in politics in donor countries affect the allocation to recipient countries of official development assistance in support of gender equality in politics? Since the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the launch of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in 2000, gender equality has been underscored as an important development goal for donors. We hypothesize that donors with higher levels of gender equality in politics are likely to allocate more aid to recipients with lower levels of gender equality in politics to promote the equality in politics in those countries. We expect this positive relationship to be even more significant after the launch of the Millennium Development Goals. Using a time-series cross-sectional design covering country dyads for the period, 1990–2012, we find evidence supporting our hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will undergo a transition to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, it becomes necessary to assess the determinants influencing the present status of MDGs. This study was conducted to assess the progress, short comings related to the transition from MDGs to SDGs in a metropolitan city. It provides practical insights for extrapolating need based strategies related to the SDGs. Methods: Study was conducted in a metropolitan city, Mumbai. Situational analysis of the city was done using monthly and annual performance reports and key informant's interviews at city level. Qualitative analysis was done using thematic analysis. Results: The current infant mortality rate of Mumbai is 26.72 and under-five mortality rate is 38.7/1000 live births. The current MMR of mumbai is 88. The responses from the key informants' spanned three major themes: Concerns and challenges; Good practices and schemes in pipeline; and Opportunities envisioned. Eight major challenging areas were identified. Opportunities are sustainable models of public-private partnership; Involvement of NGOs and AYUSH practitioners; and IT sector involvement, HMIS, e- governance, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Conclusions: Significant progress has been made in the field of maternal and child health (MCH), and sustained efforts are required. Maternal mortality figures may be illusive because of the effect of migration and referral cases. Socio-demographic issues of development need to be addressed through governance. Mechanism for intersectoral coordination, IT support, surveillance, and tracking of pregnant mothers needs to be developed. The linkage of MCH services with developmental programs needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on Mexico's struggle with development—reflected in the country's continuing persistent poverty, inequality, lack of inclusion, and social mobility—as Mexico finds itself caught between global compromises (the Millennium Development Goals, 2000‐15; the Sustainable Development Goals, 2015‐30) on one hand and National Development Plans (NDP) on the other. I analyze three consecutive NDP since the transition to democracy in 2000 and look ahead to announced changes in the "Project for the Nation 2018‐24." I also take stock of how international and national organizations have monitored and evaluated these issues. Doing so enables us to identify, problematize, and reflect on where Mexico is heading with this particular struggle. It has produced, I argue, a certain dissonance or even myth concerning development entangled between grand documents mirroring global compromises and a rather bleak reality when transformed into domestic policies for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous international and national efforts, only 12 countries in the World Health Organization's African Region met the Millennium Development Goal #4 (MDG#4) to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015. Given the variability across sub-Saharan Africa, a four-country study was undertaken to examine barriers and facilitators of child survival prior to 2015. Liberia and Zambia were chosen to represent countries making substantial progress towards MDG#4, while Kenya and Zimbabwe represented countries making less progress. Our individual case studies suggested that strong health governance and leadership (HGL) was a significant driver of the greater success in Liberia and Zambia compared with Kenya and Zimbabwe. To elucidate specific components of national HGL that may have substantially influenced the pace of reductions in child mortality, we conducted a cross-country analysis of national policies and strategies pertaining to maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) and qualitative interviews with individuals working in MNCH in each of the four study countries. The three aspects of HGL identified in this study which most consistently contributed to the different progress towards MDG#4 among the four study countries were (1) establishing child survival as a top national priority backed by a comprehensive policy and strategy framework and sufficient human, financial and material resources; (2) bringing together donors, strategic partners, health and non-health stakeholders and beneficiaries to collaborate in strategic planning, decision-making, resource-allocation and coordination of services; and (3) maintaining accountability through a 'monitor-review-act' approach to improve MNCH. Although child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa remains high, this comparative study suggests key health leadership and governance factors that can facilitate reduction of child mortality and may prove useful in tackling current Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poverty in developing countries of the world represents a global environmental issue under Millennium Development Goals. One of the ways how to mitigate this global environmental problem is the humanitarian response. But, there is a considerable knowledge gap in environmental scientific literature concerning the application of humanitarian aid as a support tool for addressing of it. This paper deals with application of the economic experiment method in an analysis of determinants of decision-making on the mitigation of global environmental issues using humanitarian aid in the context of subjective rationality. The methods in this study are based on experiment drawing on mathematical economic models supporting by statistical analyses. This methodological approach offers the opportunity for selfish behaviour in accordance with the game theory, thus allowing us to compare reality with traditional assumptions. Selected assumptions are transformed into hypotheses whose validity is consistent with the approach and conclusions of the presented study. The conducted experiment confirmed all the tested hypotheses and many other hypotheses could be verified by other experiments of a different design. The environmental discourse concerning human decision- making has long been dominated by the concept of people as strictly rational beings motivated only by profit (e.g. in the form of drawing ecosystem services) and perfectly capable of analysing all the consequences of their decisions. Although the growing influence of behavioural economics has facilitated the explanation of some kinds of observed behaviours, the umbrella term "subjective rationality" suffers due to its general broadness. The presented study is striving to find a way of synthesising the currently used sophisticated analytical methods with the behavioural perspective on decision-making on the mitigation of global environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study is to extend the United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -2015 and construct the new extended version of HDI, called Millennium Development Index (MDI), by considering a case study of Pakistan. Prior Work The study extended HDI with MDGs in order to assess country's performance in 7 different dimensions, which previously less utilized in academic and research arena. The actual values of Pakistan's data set is assessed by the progress towards MDGs and constructed the comprehensive index score, which is based upon 7 quantitative goals as assigned by the United Nations in the year 2015. The MDI score for each goal is calculated as follows, i.e., poverty index value is 0.128, educational index value is 0.421, empowerment index value is 0.458, life expectancy is 0.729, HIV/AIDS value is 0.10, maternal index value is 0.200, and clean water index value is 0.744. The stated index values indicate that Pakistan's economy weakly perform in 5 out of 7 goals, where the index value is less than the 0.50 threshold, while in the case of life expectancy and clean water access, the index value is more than the threshold value and correspond that the economy is progressing efficiently in both of the dimension factors. The overall MDI value is 0.444, which is less than the threshold value as designated by the United Nation's HDI and conclude that Pakistan's economy was low progress towards MDGs that need significant economic reforms to combat poverty, hunger, and other socio-economic and environmental factors for sustained growth. The calculated MDI score value is the first initiative to extend the HDI values with MDGs, which should be consider for food-of-thoughts to the policy makers to rank the economies on the basis of MDI instead of existing HDI values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dilemas Contemporáneos: Educación, Política y Valores is the property of Dilemas Contemporaneos: Educacion, Politica y Valores and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), providing guidance and direction for the future development of countries around the world. Both MDG and SDG have established multiple indicators to achieve environmental sustainability. However, few studies have compared the changes in the ecological environment during the two periods. Therefore, this study selected the seven major river basins in China as the study area and comprehensively assessed the changes in ecosystem service importance (ESI) within different basins in the MDG and SDG periods based on six ecosystem services, including habitat quality, soil conservation, water yield, carbon storage, grain production, and aesthetic landscape. Specifically, the changes from 2000 to 2015 and 2015 to 2020 were used to represent MDG and SDG periods, respectively. The results showed that the overall ESI of the seven major river basins showed an increasing trend in both periods, and the proportion of extremely important basins reached 20.39% in 2020, mostly distributed in the Yangtze River basin and the Pearl River basin. Except for carbon storage, other ecosystem services were restored in the SDG period. However, COVID-19 and a series of sudden disasters in 2020 have greatly affected grain production and the aesthetic landscape. The fluctuation of habitat quality also indicated that although the ecological environment has a trend of recovery, there was still some degradation compared to 20 years ago. National protection policies and restoration projects have gradually improved the ecological environment of the seven river basins and are striving to reach the SDG standards step by step. However, many problems still need to be solved urgently, such as the reduction of ecological land, the increase in carbon emissions, and the weak resilience to disasters. China has made significant positive progress in MDG, and more efforts are needed to achieve the SDG goals in the future. [Display omitted] • The changes in ecosystem services and their importance of the seven major river basins in China were explored. • The ecosystem service importance has steadily increased in the MDG and SDG periods. • China ecological policies and restoration projects have been essential to mitigate the environment degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa was privileged to be part of the MDGs agenda which was adopted in 2000. One of the aims of MDGs was to reduce extreme poverty by half in 2015. For that reason, South Africa integrated policies and strategies to rid poverty by half to that of United Nations (UN). Through all the combined policy approaches, South Africa has successfully achieved the target of halving the population living below PPP$1.25c per person per day. Whichever threshold used, the results showed that the percentage share of people living below poverty line has now decreased from 11.3 per cent in 2000 to 4.0 per cent in 2011. However, these reports are not reflecting the exact poor’s experiences because at household level there is still an outright poverty. Therefore, if the national poverty report gives a good picture about South African poverty status whereas there is still prevalence of poverty at household level, there are high chances that wrong policies in regard to poverty reduction strategies will be wrought. Hence this paper focuses on the determinants of household poverty in South Africa. The sole aim of this paper is to assess the determinants of household poverty in South Africa. The reviewed literature on determinants of poverty in South Africa would enable policy makers to see the effect of demographic characteristics on poverty in South Africa. Thus, strategies and policies aimed at alleviating poverty in South Africa can be directed to the discussed factors.

Zimbabwe adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at their inception in 2000 and it has trends of its progress in its attempt to attain these MDGs as indicated in progress reports since 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015. In these reports optimistic trends are chiefly found in MDG2 on universal primary education which is Zimbabwe’s pride in Africa, MDG3 regarding gender parity in schools and MDG6 on HIV and AIDS. The country continues to face its biggest challenges in attaining MDG1 which is eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and MDG5 which is increase nurturing mortality, whereas all the objectives under these goals are dubious that would be attained at the cut-off date. It was unfortunate that, the inception of the MDGs coincided with the deepening of socioeconomic, political and environmental crisis in the country which made it very difficult for Zimbabwe to accomplish all of its MDGs. The focal motive of this study was to check the progress, policies, programmes and strategies which were in place to promote the attainment of the MDGs from 2000-2015 and other strategies or policies in place to attain the SDGs 2016-2030. This paper recommended that there is need for institutionalisation of SDGs that is aligning them with Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (Zim-Asset) cluster; for instance, value accumulation and beneficiation, nourishment security, poverty extermination, social services and strengthening partnership with all stakeholders. The research uses intensive secondary data analysis from various sources including government gazette, journal articles, e-books, and government website, reports, published and unpublished books.

Deklarasi Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) yang telah dicanangkan dalam pertemuan global tahun 90-an bertujuan untuk mengurangi separuh masalah kelaparan di dunia, mengupayakan semua anak dapat menyelesaikan pendidikan sekolah dasar, menghapus perbedaan jender tanpa melihat tingkat pendidikan, mengurangi dua per tiga angka kematian bayi dan anak balita, mengurangi angka kematian ibu tiga per empat dari angka sekarang, serta menyediakan air bersih bagi separuh penduduk dunia pada tahun 2015. Untuk mencapai sasaran tersebut, Indonesia harus bekerja keras mengingat indikator kesehatan dasar masih jauh tertinggal dibandingkan negara Asia Tenggara lainnya. Dasar sasaran butir keempat MDG’s adalah anak balita. Mengingat usia anak balita merupakan masa ‘kehidupan emas’, maka dalam masa ini kita mempunyai peluang ‘emas’ untuk dapat melakukan intervensi selama masa tumbuh kembang sehingga dicapai manusia dewasa yang sehat dengan kualitas prima. Memberikan perhatian secara penuh pada perlindungan hak dan kebutuhan seorang anak sangat menguntungkan dan merupakan suatu modal yang tidak ternilai di masa depan. Ikatan Dokter Anak Indonesia, melalui Unit Kerja Koordinasi (UKK) yang merupakan wadah keilmuan kesehatan anak harus perperan aktif dalam intervensi ini. Orientasi terhadap kesehatan komunitas perlu ditingkatkan dalam sikap, pandangan, dan semangat seorang dokter spesialis anak; sehingga peran nyata IDAI bersama pemerintah dapat mensukseskan MDG’s

Abstract Background Countdown to 2015 was a multi-institution consortium tracking progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5. Case studies to explore factors contributing to progress (or lack of progress) in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) were undertaken in: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, and Tanzania. This paper aims to identify cross-cutting themes on how and why these countries achieved or did not achieve MDG progress. Methods Applying a standard evaluation framework, analyses of impact, coverage and equity were undertaken, including a mixed methods analysis of how these were influenced by national context and coverage determinants (including health systems, policies and financing). Results The majority (7/10) of case study countries met MDG-4 with over two-thirds reduction in child mortality, but none met MDG-5a for 75 % reduction in maternal mortality, although six countries achieved >75 % of this target. None achieved MDG-5b regarding reproductive health. Rates of reduction in neonatal mortality were half or less that for post-neonatal child mortality. Coverage increased most for interventions administered at lower levels of the health system (e.g., immunisation, insecticide treated nets), and these experienced substantial political and financial support. These interventions were associated with ~30–40 % of child lives saved in 2012 compared to 2000, in Ethiopia, Malawi, Peru and Tanzania. Intrapartum care for mothers and newborns -- which require higher-level health workers, more infrastructure, and increased community engagement -- showed variable increases in coverage, and persistent equity gaps. Countries have explored different approaches to address these problems, including shifting interventions to the community setting and tasks to lower-level health workers. Conclusions These Countdown case studies underline the importance of consistent national investment and global attention for achieving improvements in RMNCH. Interventions with major global investments achieved higher levels of coverage, reduced equity gaps and improvements in associated health outcomes. Given many competing priorities for the Sustainable Development Goals era, it is essential to maintain attention to the unfinished RMNCH agenda, particularly health systems improvements for maternal and neonatal outcomes where progress has been slower, and to invest in data collection for monitoring progress and for rigorous analyses of how progress is achieved in different contexts.

The vision of Aceh Government in 2012-2017 is Aceh are dignified, prosperous, just, and independent based on the legislation of Aceh government as a form of Memorandum of Understanding. One of the visions of Aceh government 2012-2017 is the improved welfare of Acehnese people through quality health services through increasing life expectancy, infant mortality, decreasing the prevalence of malnutrition as well as the effectiveness of the treatment of infectious diseases to the achievement of the MDG’s. Model policies adopted by the Aceh government is monitoring and track record of cases, tv monitor, routine and case sms, a special program policy model, and the model of budget balancing. Model policies adopted by the district/city government is making a supporting program, All Village Midwives Must Live in the Village, deliveries assistance is performed by professional health workers, adjustment to the ability of APBK. Support new regulation of Regent Regulation (Perbub) on Malaria Elimination and No Smoking Area. MDG’s target is not entirely in accordance with the indicator being built, because it requires adjustments in accordance with the ability of both district or city areas. Regulatory support is not adequate to support the achievement of the MDG’s in the field of health.

Background: Under-five mortality has been a major public health challenge from time immemorial. In response to this challenge, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund developed the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) strategy and presented it to the whole world as a key approach to reduce child morbidity and mortality. Botswana started to implement the IMCI strategy in 1998. Reductions in the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) have been documented, although the reduction is not on par with the expected Millennium Development Goal 4 predictions. Design: A quantitative study was done to identify the problems IMCI implementers face when tending children under 5 years in the Gaborone Health District of Botswana. The study population was made up of all the IMCI-trained and registered nurses, and systematic sampling was used to randomly select study participants. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Results: The study findings indicated challenges related to low training coverage, health systems, and the unique features of the IMCI strategy. Conclusions: The comprehensive implementation of the IMCI strategy has the potential to significantly influence the U5MR in Botswana.

INTRODUCTION: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015 are the eight international development goals adopted by the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 to which Rwanda is signatory. In 1990, Rwanda was at least one of the Sub-Saharan Africa countries with poor performance on health-related MDGs indicators. To date, despite the setbacks caused by the 1994 genocide, impressive performance is registered. The objective of the study is to document Rwanda gradual progress to achieving the health-related MDGs 2015 targets from 1990 to 2014/2015. METHODS: The study is retrospective and comparative documenting the period of 1990 to 2014/15. RESULTS: The performance of Rwanda on health-related MDGs 2015 targets is impressive despite the negative effects of the 1990-1994 civil wars and the 1994 genocide against Tutsi on 1990's levels. In effect, out of 17 health-related MDGs indicators, eleven (11) registered ''remarkable'' performances, i.e. reached global levels or fastened Vision 2020 targets attainment, two (2) registered ''good performances'', i.e. reached basic or revised own targets exhibiting overall impressive performance, while four (4) ''weaknesses'' are observed, i.e. accused gaps until now. . The good governance, Vision 2020 effective implementation, consistent resources invested in health sector and the Rwanda Universal Health Coverage implementation contributed greatly to achieving the above health-related MDGs 2015 performance. CONCLUSION: Rwanda Performance of health-related MDGS 2015 targets is impressive. However, some relative gaps still persist, and hence should be prioritized while implementing the emerging Sustainable Development Goals.

This study aims to analyze Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) prescribed by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under Islamic Law. This paper is qualitative method of research analyzing SDGs under verses of Holy Qur’an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This study found that what SDGs ask member states to do has been prescribed in Holy Qur’an and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ way back 1400 years ago and demanded by Almighty Allah and the last Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for eradication of poverty, hunger, malnutrition etc. Islamic law prohibits usury, gambling, uncertainty and other illegal activities to protect poor people of the society against rich landlords. Therefore, member states are required to follow SDGs to achieve peace, harmony and economic growth for betterment of humanity which is also a duty under verses of Holy Qur’an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to achieve success in this world and in the hereafter.

The study aims to extend and further the current literature related to the inclusion of Islamic finance in the international strategies that have been established against poverty. The study shows that despite the fact that poverty is a worldwide problem, it affects more and more the feminine gender. Besides a number of measures and strategies that might be used to alleviate and fight against poverty, like the steps taken by the World Bank, United Unions, USAID, charities and ONGs; Islamic economic and financial system should be taken into consideration and be increasingly used in poverty alleviation policies and strategies, especially in the Muslim countries.

Abstract: Introduction: Disasters are the catastrophic events which affects human lives, infrastructure and economy at significant scale. Pakistan is vulnerable to disasters due to its climate change and geography. Climate change causes much more complications and disasters. So, there should be focus on climate change adaptations to reduce disaster risks. If country spends 1 dollar on DRR it saves 5 to 7 dollars to be spent on same population if disaster strike. So, development for disaster risk reduction is much more important. Making the communities resilient and reduces vulnerability environmental sustainability is very important. After the Millennium Development Goals recommendations, Pakistan is also trying to gain environmental sustainability but more in papers instead of practically. So, the need is to make sure practical implementations of these plans and efforts. The objective of this study was to overview the sustainable environmental development and disaster risk reduction in the context of Pakistan. Methodology: This is the descriptive cross-sectional review study. Conclusion: As Pakistan is vulnerable for natural disasters due to its geography and climate change like floods, landslides, droughts and Tsunamis. These impact communities according to vulnerability level of the community. Impacts of these disasters on communities can be reduced by reducing their vulnerability and increasing their resilience level.