Aligning Goals: US Healthcare System and UN's Millennium Development Goals - Free Essay

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a set of eight goals established by the United Nations in 2001 for the member states. The United States' healthcare system has since adopted the established goals and attempted to achieve the 8 MDGs (Le Blanc, 2015). However, there have been fallbacks as not all have been attained as agreed following the Millennium Summit. In line with the MDGs, the document will seek to compare and contrast the United States healthcare system with the WHO's MDGs.

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Through the healthcare system, the U.S. government is appropriately working to attain MDG 4 (Reduce child mortality) in line with the WHO's target (McArthur, 2013). Through the Obama Administration, the former U.S. President committed to heavily investing in the nation's healthcare system to provide better care for children and women in line with the Global Health Initiative (Le Blanc, 2015). The Obama administration sought to raise approximately half a billion dollars in 2010 with a renewed focus on child and maternal health, as reflected in the FY2011 budget request. The move witnessed an increase $351 million to the FY2011 budget in the bid to achieve the MDG 4. Moreover, $90 million was allocated to The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) (Le Blanc, 2015).

Additionally, the U.S. healthcare system is appropriately working in actualizing MDG 6 (Halt HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other deadly diseases), which is aligned with the UN's millennium goal (McArthur, 2013). For instance, in 2009, the U.S. government's entire foreign spending on global health on AIDS was 77%. Further, the Obama Administration raised the treatment target for HIV to a commendable 4 million individuals following the Global Health initiative (Le Blanc, 2015).

However, there are numerous contrasts such as, unlike the stipulated development goal of improving maternal health in Target 5A and Target 5B in aspects such as the proportion of births attended by skilled personnel, the United States medical care is costly, and one needs an appointment in getting medical care. For instance, if an individual wants to see the primary care provider (PCP), one has to book an appointment with the PCP's office and explain why it is required; one might even wait for weeks or even months to be attended to (McArthur, 2013).

Further, against the millennium goal of achieving universal healthcare, unfortunately, the federal government does not fully provide health benefits to its citizens or visitors (Le Blanc, 2015). Anytime one accesses medical care, one has to pay for it as the U.S. healthcare individual's insurance does not fully pay for the bills but caters to some (McArthur, 2013). Hence, argumentatively, the U.S. healthcare system has in the past made attempts to meet the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, such as in the reduction of child mortality and halt AIDS; however, more needs to be done by the U.S. government in actualizing universal healthcare.

References

Le Blanc, D. (2015). Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a network of targets. Sustainable Development, 23(3), 176-187.

McArthur, J. W. (2013). Own the goals: What the Millennium Development Goals have accomplished. Foreign Affairs, 92(2), 152-162.