The UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015 have achieved only a partial success in their

fulfillment. The goals of increasing gender equality, increasing attendance in primary school, combating
diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS, and developing a global partnership for growth have all
improved and are on track. However, that leaves fifty percent of the goals off track, with little to no
improvement. These lagging goals include eradicating hunger, reducing child mortality, improving
maternal health, and ensuring environmental sustainability.
The goal of eradicating hunger is dependent on reducing poverty. This would require cooperation
between all members of the population and the government to implement. Because of inequality
between men and women, they are not yet able to work together effectively to reduce poverty. Many
people live on less than $1.25 per day.(Figure 1) Groups that support the empowerment of women have
formed and are making progress in that direction.

Figure 1. Retrieved from
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/mdg_goals/mdg1/. This graph
compares poverty levels in 1990 to 2010. The graph shows that there has been little difference in the
past 2 decades.
However, other factors have an impact along with gender parity. There have been severe weather
events that have caused food shortages, destroyed some agricultural assets, and eliminated other types
of livelihoods. This led to underweight children, uncertain and unreliable daily food consumption, and
widespread hunger.
Maternal Health is irrevocably linked to all the other goals that are attached to the UN Millennium
Development plan. Almost 300,000 women died globally in 2013 from causes related to pregnancy and
childbirth. (United Nations Development Programme, 2014) This number is caused by the lack of sex
education and the poverty that rules this part of Africa. The mothers are usually young, malnourished,
with no health care professionals to offer prenatal care, or to assist with the birthing process and the
aftercare that follows. Children of the sub-Sahara are definitely better off than they were in 1990,
because the rate of mortality has been almost cut in half. (United Nations Development Programme,
2014) Though there is improvement in this area, the sub-Sahara still ranks highest in infant mortality and
maternal mortality, as is seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Retrieved from gapminder.com, this is a map that compares the child mortality rate of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo to other countries around the world.

The percentage of girls attending primary school has risen steadily the past several years. There are
still barriers holding back women, but there is notable progress with most now able to finish primary
school. Although progress was strong in the beginning, just getting children in general to attend school
has weakened as the years have worn on. (Figure 3) With all the wars and conflicts, students are
dropping out of school to help out their family at home in order to survive. The children are more likely
to finish primary school before dropping out, however. As I mentioned earlier, there is still improvement
though it is not as extreme as we would like it to be, after all, Three out of four children now go to
school, a 23 per cent increase over 2000 with near parity for girls and boys. (The United Nations, 2010)


Figure 3. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/country/congo-dem-rep/. This graph shows how
primary school enrollment in the DR of the Congo has increased dramatically and that the reason it is
over 100% is because some students are older or younger than the age group of students being studied.

Between Malaria, Ebola and HIV/AIDS, Africa is fighting an ongoing battle with disease. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa ranks second in the number of cases of these
infections, but there has been significant improvement that has cut the number of cases in half from
2001 to 2012. (United Nations Development Programme, 2014) Africa has halted the spread of IV/AIDS,
but outbreaks of other diseases still occur. People living in poverty have poor health and weakened
immunity to even everyday diseases such as the common cold.
The issue of land sustainability has made little progress. Severe weather, devastating droughts and
floods, and heavy deforestation have taken a toll. There has been a decrease in the number of species in
the rainforest, and many are endangered or vulnerable, including elephants and mountain gorillas.
Unregulated hunting and poaching are huge problems. Mining has caused a loss of other natural
resources and polluted the land with toxic chemicals. Local overfishing suggests a need for fisheries
management with other surrounding countries. One of the biggest concerns is the shortage of clean
drinking water. To address this, the DR Congo is a part of the REDD+ scheme (Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), a UN program to protect carbon in forests and reduce
carbon emissions. This includes preventing deforestation for agriculture, and burning to clear land.
REDD+ offers financial incentives for land sustaining practices.
Overall, the DR Congo has achieved progress in the UN Millennium Goals. Girls are attending primary
school in numbers similar to boys, women are being empowered to step up and claim parity with men,
disease has been reduced and some attempts to improve sustainability have begun. Food insecurity
remains a huge problem, contributing to the high child and maternal mortality rates, but those rates
have improved, just less than hoped for. The overwhelming poverty has not improved as much as hoped
for either; slowly improving economic growth, along with developing various power sources, better
systems to deal with natural disasters (such as volcanos, epidemics and forest fires), and creating green
jobs for former combatants are all being pursued to push progress forward.











Sources:
Congo, Dem. Rep. (2005, January 1). Data. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from
http://data.worldbank.org/country/congo-dem-rep
The Millennium Development Goals Eight Goals for 2015. (2014, January 1). Millennium Development
Goals. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/
DR Congo improves education, child survival but greater efforts needed UN. (2010, October 6). .
Retrieved July 26, 2014, from
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36354#.U9L9ZPldWSq

UNEP Study Confirms DR Congo's Potential as Environmental Powerhouse but Warns of Critical Threats .
(2011, October 10). Press Releases October 2011 - UNEP. Retrieved July 27, 2014, from
http://www.unep.org/NEWSCENTRE/default.aspx?DocumentId=2656&ArticleId=8890

UN-REDD Programme -- About REDD+. (2009, January 1). UN-REDD Programme -- About REDD+.
Retrieved July 27, 2014, from http://www.un-redd.org/aboutredd/tabid/102614/default.aspx