Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): The Pharmacist in Public Health

Dr. Joyce Addo-Atuah

Assistant Professor of Pharmacy & Health Outcomes

Touro College of Pharmacy

New York, NY, USA.

Opening Remarks

The Honourable Minister for Health, Hon. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, whom I am very proud to call my colleague pharmacist, also a Barrister at Law, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr. Alex Dodoo, the Chief Pharmacist, Mrs. Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Representatives of the Ghana Association of Professional Bodies, the Media, Fellows and Members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, student pharmacists, including my students here from the United States, Invited Guests, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, all other protocols observed:

Let met me take this opportunity to thank the President, the Standing Executive and the Conference Planning Committees of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (the Society) for the honour done me by inviting me to address this august body on the theme of the 76^th Annual Conference of the Society.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the theme for this year’s Conference is:

“Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): The Pharmacist in Public Health”

For me as a practicing clinical pharmacist turned a public health educator, researcher and advocate, this theme is very topical and relevant to our society today, our country in the context of the global village that we find ourselves, and to our beloved profession now and into the future.

What are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

Before we delve further into the MDGs, their purpose/significance, achievements to date and the way forward, the words of the Liberian President, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, spoken during the MDG Summit in September 2010, are worth quoting here:¹

"We are here because we share a fundamental belief: that poverty, illiteracy, disease and inequality do not belong in the twenty-first century. We share a common purpose: to eradicate these ills for the benefit of all. And we share a common tool to achieve this: the Millennium Development Goals." "The Goals are global, but their impact is local. Each country has a distinct context and a unique vision of development. We must therefore, take stock, listen to our people, and choose the path that will bring to life the vision of the MDGs."

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

At the turn of the new millennium, representatives of the 189 Member Countries of the United Nations met at the Millennium Summit in New York on September 6-8, 2000. In an epoch-making event, these world leaders appended their signatures to the Millennium Declaration at the end of the Summit, thus signifying their countries’ commitment to the Declaration.²

At this Summit, world leaders pledged to “create an environment at the national and global levels conducive to development and to eliminate poverty.”²

The Millennium Declaration was significant because the global community, having taken stock of the growing disparities in resources and health among populations both within and between countries around the globe, came to the realization that the status quo was no longer acceptable nor sustainable. The world leaders at the Summit saw the Declaration as a stepping stone for fostering a global partnership of all countries - rich or poor - in the true spirit of globalization, working together for the betterment of all.²

The aim of the Millennium Declaration was to “create a more equitable and sustainable future for the world, and hence to promote global peace and stability,”²

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

In order to facilitate the global monitoring of progress towards the achievement of this new world order envisioned by the Millennium Declaration, 8 Millennium Development Goals, commonly known as the MDGs, were described. For each MDG, between one and eight targets (goal posts) were defined and for each target, up to five or more indicators for monitoring progress were described.

These global targets and indicators were to be used as the basis for monitoring MDGs achievement globally, during the reference period of 1990-2015.^2-3