|
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in different areas in achieving the targets set out in the millennium development goals (MDGs).
The country is ahead of India and Pakistan in some areas like gender equality as the enrollment of boys and girls in primary and secondary schools improved significantly.
Airing those successes at a dialogue Thursday, experts also pointed out a number of challenges that needed to be addressed to fulfill eight MDGs by 2015.
Organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the dialogue was addressed by State Minister Health and Family Welfare Mizanur Rahman Sinha, former Education Minister AHSK Sadeq, former State Minister for Health M Amanullah.
Member (General Economic Division) of the Planning Commission Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed and Director of Public Policy Initiative of the University of California Anil B Deolalikar presented two keynote papers.
CPD Chairman Rehman Sobhan convened the dialogue on 'Attaining MDG Targets in Bangladesh: Progress and the Remaining Challenges' at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Experts, members from civil society, former bureaucrats and academics attended the programme.
Sinha said Bangladesh was moving ahead in attaining the MDGs despite the policy changes with the change of the governments.
The state minister said the country will be able to achieve the health related targets in MDGs within the next five years. "We are trying our best to attain the MDGs," he added.
He, however, underpinned the need for a congenial political environment and said: "if the country is run in a smooth atmosphere, the country will do very well in future."
In the keynote paper, Anil analysed five MDGs including poverty reduction, infant and under-five mortality reduction, child malnutrition reduction, universal primary enrollment and elimination of gender disparity in school enrollment.
Analysing the inter-district variations in achievement, he suggested that attaining the MDGs would require action in the poorest divisions, districts and villages.
He felt large improvements in all development indicators were possible with concerted action in many areas.
Attaining the poverty related goal is possible as early as 2010 with a package of interventions in spite of falling per capita land availability and increasing inequality, Anil observed.
He also viewed that although it would be possible to attain the target of under-five mortality, it would be very difficult for Bangladesh to attain a net primary enrollment and completion rate of 100 per cent by 2015.
|