Sri Lanka supports the Millennium Development Goals

The Government and the people of Sri Lanka participated at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 and pledged their support to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. To make good on the commitment, a national campaign has been launched in Sri Lanka to meet the targets. This campaign is led by the Ministry of Finance and Planning and direct implementation assistance is provided by UNDP. The National Council for Economic Development (NCED) brings together stakeholders from the private and public sector.

By adopting a pro-poor and pro-growth strategy the country has worked ceaselessly to reach the target goals in the eight different categories which include eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, promoting universal education and environmental sustainability. Despite setbacks, such as the tsunami, the Government has made considerable progress in the areas of social and human development. Of course, a lot remains to be done but Sri Lanka is on schedule to meet most if not all the MDG goals. In addition, the MDG Country Report for the year 2005 sets out the broad outline for the achievement of the targets:

Overcome disparity and reduce inequality: There are regional disparities in the country. Most of the country’s wealth and economic activity is concentrated in the Western Province. Poverty is, as in many countries, usually concentrated in the rural areas. In order to achieve the MDG’s the country is endeavoring to mitigate these regional disparities.

Local actions using local resources: For Sri Lanka to reach the targets action plans are formulated at the local level with support from policies and financial resources at the national level. Also, local capacity is being developed. Such a measure will ensure that the specific concerns of each region are being met.

Improving Governance: Democratic and representative Governance structures promote accountability, transparency and efficiency. They provide mechanisms for participation of citizens in the social and political life, and legitimacy and authority to the Government to work for the achievement of the goals.

International Support and access to International Markets: The Government is actively seeking to reduce inequality and promote development so that the benefits of growth reach all sections of society.

Dialogue and Partnerships: Although the Government has the primary responsibility for leading the efforts for the successful achievement of the MDG’s it requires the concerted efforts of different stakeholders including the citizens, the private sector, and the civil society.

Progress by Sri Lanka

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme Poverty and Hunger:

Sri Lanka has made significant progress in poverty reduction. The proportion of people living below the poverty line sharply declined from 26.1 per cent in 1990/01 to 15.2 per cent in 2006/07 and on current trends, the national MDG target of halving poverty, 13.1 per cent is likely to be achieved much ahead of 2015.

However, in spite of this favorable progress at the national level, there are considerable regional disparities. The incidence of poverty has declined in all districts except in Nuwara Eliya and Moneragala where the poverty headcount index (HCI) is more than double the national average. Poverty in the estate sector has risen by more than 55 percentage points in 1990/91-2006/07, contrary to the general trend of steadily declining poverty. This varied pace of poverty reduction and disparities that exists, in Sri Lanka is likely to be linked to various physical and non-physical inequalities that prevail among different regions.

Rising inequality is a cause for concern for Sri Lanka. The rising Gini coefficient of per capita expenditure, which was 0.40 in 2006/07, and the declining share of the poorest quintile in national consumption, i.e 8.9 percent in 1990/91 to 7.1 per cent in 2006/07, bear evidence for rising inequality.. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka could do better in achieving the targets under Goal 1, if the fruits of growth are extended to beyond the Western province, and through better targeting of welfare programmes, and suitable strategies to reduce inequality.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education:

With a 97.5 per cent primary enrolment rate, Sri Lanka has achieved near-universal primary school enrolment which varies little across province or gender.

The proportion of pupils starting Grade 1 who reach Grade 5 has increased to almost 100 per cent in 2006/07. And this performance in education is universal, including the estate sector and the Eastern Province, which is remarkable. This achievement is reflected in the youth literacy rate in the country. Literacy level of 15-24 year olds in all regions has also increased during 2003-2006/07; it has crossed 95 percent across all sectors and for both males and females.

As Sri Lanka has done well in providing universal access to basic education, now the focus should be on improving the quality of education and improving educational outcomes in the remote areas and in the post-conflict areas.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women:

Sri Lanka has almost reached gender parity in primary education with the ‘ratio of girls to boys in primary education’ reaching 99 per cent in 2006. In secondary and tertiary education, the proportion of girls to boys exceeds 100 per cent.

However, notwithstanding this notable achievement in education, there has been only a marginal increase in the share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector from 30.8 percent in 1993 to 32.2 percent in 2006. And the rate of unemployment for women is twice the rate for men. What is worse, for educated women, the rate is around three times the rate for men.

In addition, the proportion of female members in the National Parliament is still very low even though it has increased from 3 percent in 1947 to only 5.8 percent at present. In order to enhance the level of empowerment of women, there is a need to encourage more women representation in the political system in Sri Lanka and to create awareness about these issues.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality:

Sri Lanka has been extraordinarily successful in reducing child mortality over the last half century. Its infant mortality rate became remarkably low as compared to most developing countries and there have also been sharp reductions in the under-5 mortality rate. Hence, the 2015 MDG mortality targets are well within reach. This success in reducing child mortality is matched by near-universal immunization coverage for measles and several other communicable diseases. Mothers’ educational attainment has also played a vital role on survival of children in their early years of life, according to the MDG country report 2008 which addresses that there is a positive correlation between infant deaths and mother’s age, and her educational attainment.

In spite of the overall reduction, there are large regional disparities in mortality rate across the country. While infant mortality rates declined in seven provinces during 1991-2003, they contrastingly increased in the Eastern and North-Central provinces during this period.

Considering more than three-quarters of infant deaths still occur in the first month of life, the further reduction in infant mortality necessarily needs to be driven largely by reductions in neo-natal mortality, which are considerably more difficult and expensive to attain.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health:

Sri Lanka has consistently achieved considerable success in reducing the Maternal Mortality Ratio. With near-universal access to health care, and 98 per cent institutional deliveries, the country is on track to meet the MDG on improving maternal health. For further improvement, access to family planning and antenatal care are critical in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. However, the contraceptive prevalence rate which is one of the common indicators to monitor the use of family planning has only shown a slight increase from 66 per cent to 68 per cent between 1993 and 2006/07.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases:

Sri Lanka remains as one of the few countries in the region with a low-level HIV epidemic. According to the MDG country report 2008/09, a cumulative total of 1,029 persons have been detected with HIV infection, and 266 persons with AIDS. More than 60 per cent of the reported HIV infections in 2006 were in the Western province. However, the country is still vulnerable to the development of concentrated HIV epidemic due to the high-risk behavioral patterns and networks. And only about one-third of the population aged 15-24 years possesses comprehensive knowledge about HIV infection.

Even though spread of malaria occurs in most parts of the country, the overall malaria situation in Sri Lanka is improving significantly. There were no severe cases or deaths from malaria in 2006, though a total of 591 cases of malaria were reported.

As Sri Lanka currently has an effective response to the tuberculosis epidemic, there has been a significant decline in the incidence of tuberculosis. However, Sri Lanka may be unlikely to achieve the target of halving the incidence and death rate due to tuberculosis, unless it launches a special programme to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability:

Sri Lanka’s forest coverage and CO2 emissions situation has deteriorated o steadily over time. By the year 2005 the forest coverage has come down to less than 30 per cent of the total land area and the per capita carbon dioxide emission per year has increased from 0.20 MT to 0.64 MT between 1990 and 2005. However, there are also positive changes; consumption of ozone-depleting substances in Sri Lanka has been gradually declining and the ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area has increased from 15.5 in 1990 to 17.2 in 2005.

In terms of access to improved drinking water and sanitation, nearly 85 per cent of households have access to an improved drinking water source, and 94 per cent of households to improved sanitation in 2006/07. These already exceed the MDG targets of the country. However, there are still large disparities across the sectors. In rural areas access to improved water source drops to 85 per cent, whereas in the estate sector less than three in five households have similar access.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development:

ODA works as one of sources to achieve MDGs’ in a developing country. However, the amount of ODA received by Sri Lanka as a percentage of GNI declined from 5 per cent in 1992 to 3 per cent in 2005. Besides, the allocation of aid for the trade sector has remained minimal and the allocation for the agriculture sector has declined, even though these two sub-sectors are important and need more attention in order to create the enabling environment for Sri Lanka to achieve the first seven MDGs. There has been a rapid increase in access to telecommunication services in Sri Lanka since 1999. The percentage of households with personal computers has more than doubled from 3.8 per cent in 2004 to 8.2 per cent in 2006/07. However, again, the disparity across the sectors is significant. While 17.8 per cent of the urban households own a computer, only 6.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent own computers in the rural and estate sectors respectively.