Background
In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration which outlines a vision for the new century based on fundamental values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, health, respect for nature and shared responsibility. These core values inspired the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The MDG relate to the following: 1) poverty; 2) primary education; 3) gender equity; 4) child mortality; 5) maternal health; 6) HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; 7) environmental sustainability; and 8) global partnerships for development. The MDG recognize the interdependence among many development challenges. They require the participation of all members of society; and place the responsibility both on the developed and developing nations. They are time bound. They are to be monitored using agreed upon indicators. Health and health-related indicators are subsumed under all the MDG, except for Goals 2 and 3.
So far, eight countries and areas within the Western Pacific Region (WPR) have produced country MDG reports: Cambodia, China, The Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines and Vietnam. The MDG reports for Fiji and Solomon Islands are in draft form. The United Nations supported the preparation of these reports.
Three regional reports have been written as well. In 2003, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Development Programme jointly launched the report on Promoting the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific. The Asian Development Bank and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community independently published the Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific: Relevance and Progress in 2003 and the Pacific Islands Regional Millennium Development Goals Report 2004, respectively.
The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) established a technical working group on MDG composed of members from relevant technical units. The working group is tasked with supporting MDG implementation and monitoring in countries and areas, and liasing with WHO Headquarters and country offices. The Region intends to provide technical support in conducting advocacy and building awareness among Member States on the MDG; building national capacity for health monitoring and reporting, particularly tracking progress and measuring achievements; collaborating with other agencies to strengthen MDG monitoring and to promote its integration with national health system plans; and promoting pro-poor and equitable progress on the MDG.
The objectives of this chapter are to provide a bird's eye view on the performance of the Region in accomplishing selected indicators and to briefly describe the challenges the Region faces in meeting the health MDG.