On July 27, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight held a hearing, “Achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals: Progress Through Partnerships.”
Chair Russ Carnahan (D-MO) said, “Ten years have passed since 192 nations and multilateral organizations set eight international development targets, which became known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), representing a collective international effort toward improving the lives of those living in developing countries. The goals include: the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement of maternal health; halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; environmental sustainability; and creation of a global partnership for development…As we recover from an economic recession, it is important to keep in mind that the Millennium Development Goals are not only a moral commitment, but are also vital to our security and economic prosperity. Fighting poverty, hunger, lack of access to education and health care helps reduce unrest and extremism, which can contribute to hatred and violence. The MDGs also help to leverage U.S. aid, bringing in contributions from other countries, the private sector, and civil society. Collectively, our investment helps to reduce extreme poverty and build a growing middle class abroad, which will ultimately buy U.S. products. Achieving the MDGs helps the world’s most needy, but it’s also good for America’s producers and consumers.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said, “I want to take this opportunity to focus our conversation and efforts on achieving MDGs 4 and 5 jointly. We must keep in mind that to achieve MDGs 4 and 5 – reducing child mortality and maternal mortality – both mother and child must be treated as co-patients, in need of care, compassion, and, when sick, either patient or both need timely intervention. The life of one cannot be forfeited for the other. We must strive to save them both, and we can. The April 2010 The Lancet medical journal published a groundbreaking study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that shows worldwide maternal mortality has been decreasing since 1980…While still too high, this landmark report is encouraging to governments [that] have been seriously addressing maternal mortality in their countries by increasing the number of skilled birth attendants, the availability of C-sections for women with obstructed labor, access to health care, including safe blood, education of women, and economic development. Many of these countries with very low mortality rates have laws that restrict abortion. The inclusion of legalized abortion or ‘reproductive health services,’ defined as abortion in the Outcome Document, would be unjust to the littlest humans, intellectually dishonest, and counterproductive to these successful efforts.”
Kathy Calvin, chief executive officer of the United Nations Foundation, discussed several of the public-private partnerships the UN Foundation has implemented to advance the UN MDGs, including the Girl Up campaign. She said, “The members of this committee know all too well the plight facing many adolescent girls in the developing world. One in seven girls marries by age 15, seventy percent of out-of-school youths are girls, and few girls receive access to comprehensive health care. Adolescent girls 15-19 are twice as likely to die in child birth as women over twenty. Girls from 10-14 are five times as likely to die. Yet only half a cent of every development dollar – half a cent – goes to programs specifically designed to help adolescent girls. That is why the Millennium Development Goals call for gender equality, universal access to primary education, and improved maternal health. By partnering and providing resources to the Girl Up campaign, we are helping to connect adolescent girls in the United States to girls in the developing world: Girl Up funds will support United Nations programs that provide comprehensive health care, life skills education to keep girls safe from violence, and funding to allow girls to enter and stay in school. Most importantly, this program gives American girls a chance to be part of a vitally-important mission – ensuring that girls in the developing world have the same opportunities that they are so fortunate to have.”
“With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has initiated a global effort on women and children’s health titled ‘Investing in Our Common Future: Joint Plan of Action for Women’s and Children’s Health,’ said Dr. Scott Ratzan, vice president of Global Health, Government Affairs, and Policy at Johnson & Johnson. He continued, “We know that without innovation, hundreds of thousands of women and girls will continue to die in pregnancy or childbirth every year, with 10 to 15 million more suffering long-lasting disabilities. We know that progress in delivering healthier pregnancies and healthier babies is possible. Some of the poorest countries are now making significant reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality. Country-led as well as global innovations can achieve further reductions, enabling health services to produce better outcomes at the same cost. These range from financial incentives to promote performance and results to innovative use of mobile phones and other communication tools…Johnson & Johnson has a long legacy of engaging in public-private partnerships focused on maternal and child health initiatives in many developing (and developed) countries…all with a focus on making life-changing, long-term differences in human health, and tied to advancing one or more of the MDGs. Our approach focuses on working with community-based partners that have the greatest insights into the needs of local populations and the strategies that stand the greatest chances of success.”
In urging Congress to reject additional funding for the MDGs, James Roberts, research fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth, Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation, said, “The Declaration adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 addressed a wide range of problems related to peace, security, and development. No one disputes the desirability of reducing poverty, hunger and infant mortality, increasing access to safe drinking water, improving education, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, or protecting the environment. There is significant disagreement, however, about the proper methodology to achieve those goals…In my opinion, these UN development assistance programs will fail to achieve their objectives. If Congress continues to fund them, the only certainty is that they will further enrich corrupt elites in developing countries and they will provide continuing employment for the cadre of development assistance bureaucrats and other professionals who are advancing them.” Mr. Roberts added, “As Swedish development economist Fredrik Segerfeldt argues in a forthcoming book entitled ‘First, Do No Harm’ on the failure of foreign aid to lift people out of poverty over the last 50 years, despite decades of efforts and the expenditure of $1.65 trillion by OECD [Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development] donor countries, the problems in those countries simply cannot be solved by foreign aid. Only economic growth can rescue the poor and extremely poor, and that growth cannot be generated by statist development assistance programs that center on an ever-expanding welfare state and redistribution schemes. Segerfeldt points out that in 1962 the GDP [gross domestic product] per capita in East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa was roughly the same. By 2005, the poverty rate in East Asia had been dramatically reduced while in Sub-Saharan Africa it was more or less unchanged. The difference? China, South Korea, the so-called Asian Tigers, and other countries in East Asia generally did not follow the Western development assistance model, preferring to stimulate growth through investing and exporting. Meanwhile countries in Sub-Saharan Africa became increasingly dependent for larger and larger shares of their GDP on ODA flows from OECD donor countries.”
Dr. John McArthur, chief executive office of the Millennium Promise Alliance, also testified.
