Managing Editor Toivo Ndjebela zooms in, target by target, on how Namibia performed on each of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the last 15 years – since 2000.
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
According to the report on the MDGs, Namibia managed to achieve the poverty reduction targets ahead of 2015, but is not on target to achieve equitable distribution of income or eradication of hunger. The proportions of Namibia’s population who live in ‘poor’ and ‘severely poor’ conditions have decreased by more than half over the past 13 years.
“This is a commendable reduction in poverty and means that less than one third (28.7 percent) of the population currently lives below the poverty line,” it reads. “Namibia has, at the same time, significantly reduced the poverty gap ratio, surpassing the target to halve the poverty gap by 2015. However, inequality remains a serious challenge, with high poverty levels in rural areas, among female-headed households, older people and subsistence farmers.”
The latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (2009/10) found that two regions had poverty levels of 50 percent or more, while increased poverty levels were experienced in Khomas Region.
“The Gini coefficient has fallen to 0.5971, but remains one of the highest in the world. The unemployment rate of 29.6 percent in 2013 is lower than the 52 percent in 2008, but it continues to be extremely high among Namibian youth (42 percent).”
Achieve universal primary education
Of the three targets that Namibia has set for herself to achieve under this MDG by 2015, the net enrolment in primary education target, has been achieved, the literacy rate is on target to be achieved, while the survival to Grade 8 target is not achievable if current trends continue, the report says.
“The net enrolment ratio in primary education stood at 99.6 percent in 2012. However, the gross enrolment rate for the past few years highlights inefficiencies in enrolling maximum numbers of children in age appropriate grades.” It is likely that the literacy rate target can be achieved by 2015. As with school enrolments, regional variations in literacy are evident, with Kunene having the lowest (59.4 percent) literacy rate in 2011, followed by Omaheke (70.7 percent) and Kavango (76.4 percent).
The challenges that persist include poor school management, lack of motivation among many educators, poor physical learning environments, slow roll-out of early childhood development, poverty, malnutrition and high levels of domestic violence.
Promote gender equality and empower women
Of the seven targets under this MDG, three have already been achieved, two were on target to be achieved by the year 2015, while two were not on target. Gender parity targets have been reached for secondary education, literacy rates for 15- to 24-year-olds and pre-primary education. The ratio of girls to 100 boys for secondary education was 112.3 in the year 2012, 101 for literacy in 2011 and 101.2 for pre-primary education in 2012.
“The target to have gender parity in primary education is on target to be achieved at 96.4 girls per 100 boys. Namibia was also on target to achieve 50 percent share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector, having achieved 48 percent in 2008 and 35 percent in 2012.”
The challenges include insufficient resources to mainstream gender equality adequately across different sectors, increased gender-based violence and the seeming inability of Namibia to translate gender parity on some levels into formal jobs and negotiation powers of women.
Reduce child mortality
The target for MDG 4 was to ensure that by 2015, under-five mortality rates are reduced by two-thirds. The three relevant indicators are to reduce both infant mortality and under-five mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, and to increase the proportion of one-year-old children immunised against measles to 85 percent. “While the measles immunisation programme surpassed its target two years ahead of 2015, the year 2013 data for Namibia show that it is unlikely to attain the reduction in the two child mortality targets by 2015,” states the report.Namibia experienced a decline in infant mortality between 1992 (57 per 1 000 live births) and 2000 (38 per 1 000 live births) and a sudden increase from the year 2000 to 2006/7 (46 per 1 000 births) and a steady drop by the year 2013 (39 per 1000 births).
However, the decrease in percentage points for under-five mortality was higher at seven percentage points compared to infant mortality between the year 2000 and 2013, where the rate was 54 deaths per 1 000 live births.
“This is almost twice as high as the 2015 target of 28 deaths per 1 000 live births. The challenges that contribute towards increased child mortality rates include inefficient and ineffective health service provision, lack of basic emergency skills among some health workers, insufficient health infrastructure and difficulties of access to health services, especially for severely poor and marginalised groups.”
Improve maternal health
The targets for MDG 5 were to reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio and achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.
The current data for Namibia (based on the 2013 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)) show that Namibia is likely to achieve one target for MDG 5, which is 97 percent of births attended by a skilled health professional.
“However, Namibia is not on target to reduce the unmet need for family planning to zero; 56 maternal deaths for every 100 000 live births, 100 percent contraceptive prevalence rate, the adolescent birth rate reduced by 100 percent and an antenatal coverage of 100 percent for one and at least four visits,” the report said.
It is essential, the country is further urged, to develop a health professional human resource plan, improve retention of health professionals, accelerate training, build the capacity of all categories of reproductive health service providers, ensure availability and maintenance of essential medicines and equipment, design clinics to cater appropriately for all relevant health needs, speed up decentralization, and strengthen community mobilization and monitoring and evaluation.
Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
The three targets for this goal are to, by 2015, have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV, and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases, and by 2010, to have achieved universal access to treatment for HIV and AIDS for all those who need it.
“Of the eight HIV and AIDS indicators that could be measured, trends from the early nineties show that Namibia had already achieved the ratio of 1.0 of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 14 years and below.”
“The country is also on target to achieve the proportion (100 percent) of adults with advanced HIV infection who have access to antiretroviral treatment, although not on target to achieve 95 percent of children with this access.” The HIV prevalence target of 5 percent among the population aged 15 to 24 will also not be achieved, as it stood at 8.9 percent by 2012, the report says.
“Neither will Namibia reach the targets it set for itself in relation to males and females using condoms during high risk sexual encounters and comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS for the age cohort 15–24.”
Namibia is on track to halt and begin to reverse malaria mortality by 2015. In relation to other major diseases, available data show that Namibia is doing well and had already achieved, by 2010, the target of 85 percent of tuberculosis cases treated successfully and reducing the number of people who died from tuberculosis to less than five.
“However, Namibia is not yet on target on notification of tuberculosis cases as this stands at 487 per 100 000 population instead of less than 300.”
Ensure environmental sustainability
Under this target, Namibia was expected to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources, reduce biodiversity loss, achieve – by 2010 – a significant reduction in the rate of loss and halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Progress to date includes three of these being met, two on target to be met and three not on target. Namibia has already achieved the targets to provide safe drinking water to urban (99 percent) and rural dwellers (90 percent), and to have 19.4 percent (against the targeted 15 percent for 2015) of land coverage in 2013 as communal conservancy areas. Namibia is on track to have 20 percent of land coverage as state protected and five percent as community forest areas.
“However, the target of halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation has not and will not be achieved by 2015. Related to this is a failure to meet targets for access to secure urban land tenure for poor people.”
Develop a global partnership for development
Namibia has adopted four indicators of achievement for itself. One measures the net official development assistance (ODA) flows it receives, and the others measure the degree to which ICT has developed, in the form of internet access and use, cellular/mobile telephone subscriptions, and regular land line telephone use.
“Namibia has already achieved all the targets set for this goal. Official development assistance increased from US$89 per capita in 1990 to US$131 per capita in 2011, surpassing the target of US$90 per capita.”
By 2013, 36 percent of Namibians had access to internet, against the 20 percent target of this MDG. This could be attributed to increased cellphone subscribers and consequent internet access via cellphones. The proportion of cellphone subscribers increased from 31 percent in the early 2000s to 92 percent in 2010 and 115 percent in 2013.
The proportion of landline subscribers increased steadily from 6.8 percent in 2005 to 8.1 percent in 2013 (surpassing the 7.5 percent target).