The Environmental Millennium Development Goal: progress and barriers to its achievement

Abstract Ensuring environmental sustainability is the aim of the seventh Millennium Development Goal (MDG7). United Nations data shows insufficient progress, especially in developing countries. In order to generate new information about this progress and the main barriers that hinder it, we conducted a systematic review to describe the scientific evidence concerning MDG7, and to analyse the quality of the studies. In order to identify all empirical quantitative studies (ecological, descriptive study, cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort), we searched the following databases between 23 and 26 June 2009: PubMed, EMBASE, ISI WoK, SCOPUS, EBSCO-Greenfile, CAB Abstracts, and LILACS. We identified six empirical studies which reported serious difficulties in the progress of MDG7 and identified socioeconomic inequalities, lack of infrastructure and contamination of water sources as the main barriers hindering its achievement. Environmental issues do not seem to be a priority in research and political agendas, while the international organisations continue to insist that the objective is extremely important. It is necessary to generate scientific knowledge around MDG7, and identify weakness in the indicators in order to adapt policies to the new challenges and make decisions based in best evidence.

[1]  Carmen Vives-Cases,et al.  VALORACIÓN DE LOS OBJETIVOS DE DESARROLLO DEL MILENIO MEDIANTE LA REVISIÓN DE LA LITERATURA CIENTÍFICA EN 2008 , 2008 .

[2]  C. Murray.  Towards good practice for health statistics: lessons from the Millennium Development Goal health indicators , 2007, The Lancet.

[3]  A. Stein,et al.  Trends in urban and slum indicators across developing world cities, 1990–2003 , 2008 .

[4]  M. Tsechkovski,et al.  WHO Regional Office for Europe , 1993, The Lancet.

[5]  J. Bishop,et al.  Sustaining the Environment to Fight Poverty and Achieve the Millennium Development Goals1 , 2006 .

[6]  M. Aguilar,et al.  Barriers to achieving the water and sanitation-related Millennium Development Goals in Cancún, Mexico at the beginning of the twenty-first century: , 2007 .

[7]  Contributions from M. Walpole.  The Millennium Development Goals Report , 2008 .

[8]  D. Mitlin.  A fund to secure land for shelter: supporting strategies of the organized poor , 2003 .

[9]  Olli Varis.  Right to Water: The Millennium Development Goals and Water in the MENA Region , 2007 .

[10]  JD Sachs,et al.  The Millennium Project: a plan for meeting the Millennium Development Goals , 2005, The Lancet.

[11]  O. Varis.  Megacities, Development and Water , 2006 .

[12]  M. Ruiz,et al.  Factores económicos relacionados con los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio en salud: una revisión bibliográfica , 2009 .

[13]  Jamie Bartram,et al.  Focusing on improved water and sanitation for health , 2005, The Lancet.

[14]  N. Madise,et al.  Progress towards the child mortality millennium development goal in urban sub-Saharan Africa: the dynamics of population growth, immunization, and access to clean water , 2007, BMC public health.

[15]  Nancy Santesso,et al.  Systematic reviews and knowledge translation. , 2006, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[16]  A. Prüss,et al.  Estimating the burden of disease from water, sanitation, and hygiene at a global level. , 2002, Environmental health perspectives.

[17]  A. Haines,et al.  Policies for accelerating access to clean energy, improving health, advancing development, and mitigating climate change , 2007, The Lancet.

[18]  M. Palma,et al.  Policy determinants affecting the hunger millennium development goal. , 2009, Social science & medicine.

[19]  David Kay,et al.  Estimating the burden of disease from water, sanitation, and hygiene at a global level , 2002 .

[20]  C. Álvarez-Dardet,et al.  How political epidemiology research can address why the millennium development goals have not been achieved: developing a research agenda , 2009, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[21]  P. Anand.  Semantics of Success or Pragmatics of Progress? , 2007 .

[22]  Sumi Mehta,et al.  Assessing Household Solid Fuel Use: Multiple Implications for the Millennium Development Goals , 2006, Environmental health perspectives.

[23]  S. Anyangwe,et al.  Health Inequities, Environmental Insecurity and the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case Study of Zambia , 2006, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[24]  S. Chakravarty,et al.  Millennium Development Goals: Measuring Progress towards their Achievement , 2008 .

[25]  Nihal Bayraktar,et al.  Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Macroeconomic Monitoring Framework , 2005, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[26]  Bettina Genthe,et al.  Contamination of drinking water between source and point-of-use in rural households of South Africa and Zimbabwe: implications for monitoring the Millennium Development Goal for water , 2006 .

[27]  David Stifel,et al.  Progress Toward the Millennium Development Goals in Africa , 2003 .

[28]  C. Ronsmans,et al.  Huge poor-rich inequalities in maternity care: an international comparative study of maternity and child care in developing countries. , 2007, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[29]  C. Corvalan,et al.  Global environmental change and health: impacts, inequalities, and the health sector , 2008, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[30]  Carl Folke,et al.  New Visions for Addressing Sustainability , 1975, Science.

[31]  E. Mwendera.  Rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) coverage in Swaziland: Toward achieving millennium development goals , 2006 .

[32]  M. Petticrew,et al.  “A hard day’s night?” The effects of Compressed Working Week interventions on the health and work-life balance of shift workers: a systematic review , 2008, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[33]  J. Mcneely,et al.  The Millennium Project: the positive health implications of improved environmental sustainability , 2005, The Lancet.

[34]  Jeffrey James,et al.  Misguided investments in meeting millennium Development Goals: a reconsideration using ends-based targets , 2006 .

[35]  D. Satterthwaite.  The Millennium Development Goals and urban poverty reduction: great expectations and nonsense statistics , 2003 .

[36]  C. Butler,et al.  Emerging health issues: the widening challenge for population health promotion. , 2006, Health promotion international.

[37]  S. Berra,et al.  Instrumento para la lectura crtica y la evaluacin de estudios epidemiolgicos transversales , 2008 .

[38]  Walter V. Reid,et al.  Investments Toward Sustainable Development , 2006, Science.