WITH REFERENCE TO THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, CRITICALLY Essay

WITH REFERENCE TO THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, CRITICALLY EVALUATE THE ASSERTION THAT HEALTH IS NOW TOP OF THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example eover, the countries committed themselves towards reducing child mortality which is MDG number four, followed by a declaration to improve maternal health as the MD goal number five. This is followed by a promise to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases while a commitment to ensure environmental sustainability became the MDG number seven. The last goal in the list is the declaration to develop a global partnership for development. To fast track the achievement of the MDG, UNDP (2010, p. 10) explains that in September, 2010 there was a UN conference in which the countries reaffirmed their commitment towards achieving the MDGs and promised to accelerate efforts towards their achievement. In reference to the Millennium Development Goals one can rightly assert that health is currently top of the international agenda for development. Looking critically at all the millennium Development goals shows that United Nations gives health top priority. All the eight goals contribute in one or the other in enhancing the health of global population. According to United Nations (2007, p. 23), giving each person a chance to enjoy a long and healthy life is both an essential goal of development and a means of enhancing the potential of a country to develop. Millennium Development Goal one committed nations to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. If this goal is adequately addressed, it could lead to significant improvement in the health of the global population. Under this goal, United Nations (2007, p. 23), explains that the first target was to reduce by halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day from what the population was in 1990. Reddy and Heuty (2005, p. 10) argues that poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and defines it as lack of options to various dimensions of the quality of life. T here are many people living in absolute poverty in some parts of Asia and Africa as observed by Reddy and Heuty (2005, p. 10). Poverty deprives one a