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An international effort to eradicate poverty
by Christin Davis –
In an eight-part series, New Frontier is exploring the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate poverty and achieve basic human rights for all people, and detailing Salvation Army work to accomplish the goals.
Goal 1: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Read more about this goal in New Frontier, volume 28, number 3.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Read more about this goal in New Frontier, volume 28, number 5.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Read more about this goal in New Frontier, volume 28, number 7.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Read more about this goal in New Frontier, volume 28, number 9.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
With this goal, governments agreed to guarantee universal access to reproductive health, because “no woman should die giving life.” According to UNICEF, more than half a million women globally die each year because of complications due to pregnancy and childbirth—99 percent of the deaths occur in developing countries. This MDG aims to reduce maternal mortality by 75 percent by 2015, and The Salvation Army is working at the community level to effect sustaining change for women.
In Ghana, Salvation Army clinics across the country have provided medical help for more than 50 years to expectant mothers. Mothers are offered pre-natal care and a safe and hygienic place to give birth. The clinics then have the dual purpose of seeing the babies through the perilous early years while ensuring the mothers keep well.
One of three Salvation Army hospitals in India focuses on maternal and child health. The 70-bed hospital also conducts a community health outreach program in the surrounding area of Nidubrolu.
The Salvation Army is working with the United Nations Population Fund and other faith-based organizations in Papua New Guinea to raise awareness of reproductive health for adolescents.
In Indonesia, Army healthcare workers focus on detecting any medical problems early as women receive proper medical examinations. Pre-natal and post-natal care helps the mothers learn how to keep themselves and their babies healthy.
Goal 6: Combat AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: A global partnership for development
See more about the MDGs in the past and upcoming parts of this New Frontier series and at endpoverty2015.org.