The UN鈥檚 goals for helping people in the world鈥檚 poorest countries are being undermined by uncertainty over how to measure them.
National leaders from more than 170 countries are meeting this week to discuss progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, which include targets for cutting rates of HIV infections, malaria and maternal mortality. But the UN鈥檚 deputy secretary-general, Louise Fr茅chette, has been accused by Amir Attaran, a former adviser to the UN Development Programme at the University of Ottawa, Canada, of delaying amendments that would allow for more accurate measurement of the goals, in case such arguments distract the summit.
Writing in PLoS Medicine, he says that while the goals sound quantifiable, many are either unmeasurable or lack accurate baseline data (vol 2, e318). For example, the MDG for women鈥檚 health states that maternal mortality should be reduced by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. But in many of the world鈥檚 poorest countries, figures on births and deaths rely on crude estimates rather than actual measurements
Advertisement
鈥淭he MDGs are extremely laudable goals, but without scientifically valid data, they become meaningless to the very people they are meant to help,鈥� says Attaran. 鈥淚t is disrespectable to speculate about saving lives, when neglecting to say whether lives actually are saved.鈥�
He says amending the goals to allow more accurate measurements would have to be ratified by heads of state, presumably at the next the next UN summit in 2010.
