“One shall be able to receive medical care when necessary, for the poor and the wealthy alike”，right to health is the basic human right／SDGs -3（Health) PART A
Original Article: Ms. Bai Yi-jiun
Translated by: Eden Social Welfare Foundation
What is the concept of “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all”? The third goal of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its 13 sub-goals, emphasises on well-being for all and the creation of a world with no poverty, hunger, diseases and scarcities, a world which suits all the individuals in the world.
MDGs Era: emphasis on women's and children's health and infectious diseases
Before the third SDGs - “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” came out, was the parallel Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) health goals.
The development goal which targeted to be reached by the end of the 20th Century, the purpose was to fight diseases, poverty, illiteracy, gender discrimination against women and environmental deterioration. 3 out of the 8 targets were aiming at the promotion of health and well-being and directly associated with medical and public health, it focused on women’s and children’s health at the time, especially the maternity health care and infant mortality rate.
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MDG 4：Reduce child mortality
Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
MDG 5：Improve maternal health
Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.
MDG 6：Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
The above three goals were planned by 189 countries were the main requests and practice of public health. Its idea was based on the state of social equality could be reached when the women’s and children’s wellbeing are being protected and infectious diseases are under control in developing countries.
Moreover, major commercial production and national power building were made by or developed through the majority of healthy citizens. In other words, when women’s health is protected during pregnancy, so is the health of their newborn, for those children will become main labour force in the future, which was the central concept in MDGs era.
photo credit: Carlo Navarro @ Unsplash
Six Million children die under the age of 5 from famine each year
According to the evaluation by The Statistics Division of The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the number of child mortality were 76/1000 globally in millennium era, the numbers were higher than the average in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa (156 children), East and South East Asia (91 children); at the same time, Taiwan began the child mortality record since the year 1990 with the record of 8 /1000, which was far lower than the world’s average child mortality rate.
Geographically speaking, what is happening in the areas of high child mortality rates that causes the huge gap of child mortality rate? MDG Monitor which generated by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), The Statistics Division of The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), explained the reasons and messages behind those numbers through big data.
By examining the areas of high child mortality rate it can be seen that even the world has reached the 21st Century where food surplus has become an issue, there are still 30% the of child mortality rate is caused by malnutrition or famine. According to the findings by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), World Food Program (WFP), and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), issued the Efforts against Child Hunger and Undernutrition Project (REACH), investing on communities and families, offering supplies in replacement of breast milk, reducing child mortality rates caused by malnutrition.
By the conclusion of MDGs in the year 2015, child mortality rate had dropped from 90/1000 to 43/1000, numbers of child death had gone down from 1270,000 per-year to 6 million. However, even the number had gone down by more than 50%, there was still 16,000 children die from the preventable disease such as pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea each day by the end of 2015.
1M out of the 6 Million newborns died on the same date, the other one million died on the first week, and the rest 280 million die on the first month of their birth (infant). According to the statics, there was more than 70% child died in the first month of their birth at present-day.
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800 maternal women died from lack of medical resources every day.
According to the report from World Health Organization (WHO), the health condition of maternity women directly affects the infant mortality rate, which was the reason why goal 4 and 5 of MDGs were closely related to the issue and should be discussed together. The investigation report by Department for International Development of
UK (DFID), pointed out that, infant mortality rate can be prevented by 70% through offering the efficient caring system to maternity women.
341 in every 100 thousand women died in delivery in the year 2000, about 52 thousand in total. The MDGs Monitor pointed out that, if women in developing countries have enough food supplies, basic literacy skill and health care service, and access to safe and clean water and hygiene facilities, the maternal mortality rate can be prevented by more than 90%.
According to the statics, the maternal mortality rate was the “result”, and most of the cases were preventable. “Bleeding” occupied more than 27% of the death of maternal women in developing countries, other reasons such as high blood pressure, infection, unsafe abortion, labour and delivery complications, and other infectious disease included mentioned in goal 6.
In developed countries, maternal women are able to reduce their risks to the lowest through decent health care and the accurate medical information. However, the health condition of maternal women is out of control in developing countries, which causes the great damage of the society: unexpected pregnancy, poor maternal health, teenage pregnancy, overall low education level, infant mortality, orphans, malfunction families and exceeding poverty.
By the year 2015, the index monitoring health of maternal women pointed out that, the global maternal mortality rate had dropped by 45%, especially in South-Asia area which the number had dropped by 63%, the assistance rate from professional midwife during labor had gone up from 59% to71%, and women aged between 15 - 49 having contraceptives had gone up to 64%. However, there were still 28.9 thousands of maternal women die each year, 800 maternal women die each day by the year 2013, especially Sub- Saharan Africa and South Asia areas with the highest numbers, which occupied 86% of the global maternal mortality rate.
Moreover, there are still half of the pregnant women receiving enough pregnancy education and pregnancy health check up to present, the serious concern of unstable social system which hides behind women’s health caring systems still exists.
Developing countries might be difficult to imagine the urgency of fighting HIVs, malaria and other infectious diseases, but it was stated in the 8 MDGs goals warned the seriousness in terms of its region. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, (FAO) pointed out that, to most developing countries of agricultural countries, HIVs and malaria were a common infectious disease in underprivileged rural villages, which ties to the lack of fundamental structure and lack of health knowledge; irreversible damage to farmers’ health could lead to deprivation of harvest and agricultural products, public nutrition, infrastructure and development, which causes a vicious circle.
According to the report by MDG Monitor, the number of new HIV infected had gone down from 3.5million in the year 2000 to 2.1million in the year 2013, global malaria incidence rate had gone down by 37%, the mortality rate dropped by 58% from the year 2000 to 2015.
