Namibia is currently working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. To achieve the targets for the reduction of child mortality, which form MDG 4, Namibia should reduce under-five deaths per 1,000 live births to 24 and increase measles immunisation to 100 per cent by 2015. In 2012 under-five mortality was approximately 39 deaths per 1,000 live births and measles immunisation was 76 per cent, which suggests that there is some way to go if the country is to achieve these targets by 2015.
The global MDG 5 target for maternal health is to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth by threequarters between 1990 and 2015. When applying this target to Namibia, maternal mortality should fall to 50 cases per 100,000 live births. In the period 2007-11 Namibia had reported a maternal mortality ratio of 450 deaths per 100,000 live births (this figure was estimated at 200 deaths per 100,000 live births by UN agencies/World Bank in 2010). According to this data, Namibia is very unlikely to meet the maternal mortality goal by 2015. MDG 5 also stipulates that 100 per cent of births must be attended by a skilled health professional. In the period 2007-12, this figure stood at 81 per cent, so dramatic progress must be made if this target is to be achieved.
MDG 6 aims for a reduction in the prevalence of HIV, malaria and other diseases. Namibia has demonstrated a decline in the percentage of the population with HIV, although the figure remains very high. Deaths from malaria have declined since the beginning of the MDG period, while the estimated rate of mortality from TB (when mortality data excludes cases co-morbid with HIV) is approximately double that of 1990. With good progress, the country may achieve some of the targets set by MDG 6 by 2015.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services, with support from development and implementing partners as well as strong political commitment, has initiated Namibia’s National Strategy and Action Plan for The Elimination Of New Paediatric HIV Infections and Keeping Their Mothers Alive 2012/13-2015/16. The plan, developed through a series of consultations with internal and external stakeholders, aspires to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Namibia. The goal of the action plan is to eliminate new paediatric HIV infections and improve the survival of children and their mothers within the context of HIV infection.
Specific aims include reducing the number of new paediatric HIV infections by 90 per cent, reducing the mother-to-child transmission rate to less than five per cent, and seeing infant and maternal deaths drop by at least 50 per cent by 2015/16. The programme will also improve access to family planning services and to antiretroviral treatments for HIV positive pregnant women and HIV infected children. The plan defines specific mechanisms for tracking progress and outlines key roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders within the context of the ‘three-ones’ principle: one strategic framework, one national co-ordinating authority, and one monitoring and evaluation system to guide activities at all levels and across sectors under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
