Essay Sample On MDG 6 - To Combat AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

In the year 2000 as documented by (Hotez, 2013), the United Nations developed the Millennium Development Goals and one of them was MDG 6 that aimed to combat AID, malaria and other diseases. Prevention of HIV has been tackled by information provision, condom provision, prevent mother to child transmission, distribution of the antiretroviral drugs, among others. Malaria and tuberculosis are the other diseases that have been focused on in this development goal.

According to a study by (Hotez, 2013), it was reported that due to the widespread use of ARVS and other prevention measures the HIV/AIDS new cases declined from 2.8 million in the year 1997 to approximately 1.8 million in the yearly. On the other hand, it was reported that there is approximately two-thirds drop in the number of HIV cases among children under five. In a report in 2005, 1.7 million people died due to HIV as compared to 1.3 million in 2013 which is a significant drop (Hotez, 2013). Malaria new cases in 2003 were reported to be 232 million and in 2013 the new cases were 165 million a significant drop too. On the other hand, 1.2 million malaria deaths were recorded in 2005 compared to 855, 000 malaria deaths in 2013 (Hotez, 2013).

Table 1. Evaluation on how goals on HIV have been met.

years

Data description 2005 2013

Number of new cases 2.8 million 1.8 million

Number of deaths 1.7 millions

1.3 million

Table 2. Evaluation on how goals on malaria have been met.

years

Data description 2003 2013

Number of new case 232b million 165 million

Number of deaths 1.2 million 855,000

In another research documented by (Hotez, 2013), the number HIV infections dropped by approximately 40% between the years 2000 and 2013. There was a drop in the number of new HIV cases that is, from 3.5 million to 2.1 million between 2003 and 2014. According to the studies in the year 2014 approximately 13.6 people living with HIV were on ARVS globally. This is an increase compared to the 800,000 people receiving the ARTS in the year 2003.

Table 3. Data on HIV

year

Data description 2003 2014

Number of new cases 3.5 Million 2.1 million

Number of people on ARTS 800,000 13.6 million

In addition (Hotez, 2013) states that the number of malaria deaths reduced by approximately 6.2 million between the year 2000 and 2015. The incidence of malaria cases has dropped by approximately 37 percent and the mortality rates by 58 percent. On tuberculosis (Hotez, 2013) reports that between 2003 and 2013 the number of deaths dropped by 37 million. On the other hand, the mortality rate dropped by 47% and the prevalence rates dropped by 41% between 1990 and 2013.

In a report by World Health Organization in the year 2008, many countries are having challenges to meet to meet the MDG 6 target of achieving universal access to treatment for HIV by 2010. Another target that has been challenging is to halt and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015. In the report, it is estimated that there has been a decline of new HIV cases from 3 million to 2.7 million between 2001 and 2007. The access to ARTs went up by 42 percent globally. The number of people who had access to ARTS in developing countries stands at 3 million way below the estimated 9.7 million people who are in need of the treatment in the year 2007.

As stated by the WHO report of 2008, there has been progressing in malaria especially through the use of ITMNs. 95 million mosquito nets were produced in 2007 a rise from the 30 million produced in 2004. UNICEF procured 20 million mosquito nets in the year 2007 an increase compared to the 7 million procured in the year 2004. The Global fund distributed 88 million nets in 2006 compared to the 1.3 in the year 2004.

In conclusion, many of the targets of the MDG 6 have been met. Those that have not been met have been year marked and efforts are being put in place to ensure they are met. However, some targets are still challenging to achieve due to the emerging and reemerging of diseases and factors that hinder progress.

References

Hotez, P. J. (2013). Forgotten People Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and their Impact on Global Health and Development Second Edition, ASM Press.

The Millennium Development Goals Report (2008): United Nations; United Nations MDG Database http://mdgs.un.org; Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: midway to the Millennium Development Goals, Report of the Secretary-General, A/62/780