Maldives is currently working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. To achieve the targets for the reduction of child mortality, which forms MDG 4, Maldives should reduce underfive deaths per 1,000 live births to 31, and increase measles immunisation to 100 per cent by 2015. In 2012, under-five mortality stood at 11 deaths per 1,000 live births, and measles immunisation at 98 per cent, so the country has already surpassed its under-five mortality target and is on track to increase immunisation to 100 per cent by 2015. Consequently, it is likely to achieve MDG 4.
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 Maldives, maternal mortality should fall to 208 cases per 100,000 live births. In the period 2007-11 Maldives had a reported maternal mortality ratio of 140 deaths per 100,000 live births (this figure was estimated at 60 deaths per 100,000 by UN agencies/World Bank in 2010) so this target has already been surpassed. Part of the goal 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 95 per cent, so this target is on track to be achieved by 2015.
MDG 6 aims for a reduction in the prevalence of HIV, malaria and other diseases. Prevalence rates of major communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are low or declining.
Accordingly, with continued progress, the country is likely to achieve MDG 6.
The 2013 World Health Organization (WHO) country co-operation strategy for Maldives reports that Maldives has largely achieved all the health-related MDGs ahead of the 2015 deadline. The WHO has, however, identified the rise of non-communicable diseases in the country as an issue needing further attention. Noncommunicable diseases account for more than 70 per cent of all mortality in the country. Both the obesity rate and the prevalence of low physical activity levels across the population are among the highest in the WHO South-East Asia Region. Furthermore, more than half of the adult population has high cholesterol, and more than a third of adult men are daily tobacco smokers. In the most recent Maldives Health Master Plan, 2006-15, the government acknowledged NCDs as one of the top health priorities. In January 2013 the Ban of Smoking in Public Places regulation was implemented – it is the first tobacco control regulation in the country and that shows steps are being taken by the government to tackle unhealthy lifestyles that can contribute to the rise of NCDs.
