Maternal and child health-A challenge of the millennium development goals

Since about 1980, the Indian economy has grown, in terms of its gross domestic product (GDP), at over 6 per cent per annum compound, as against an average for the period 1950 to 1980 of around 3 to 3.5 percent. More recently, between 2003–04 and 2007–08, the rate of growth of India's GDP even breached the 8 per cent barrier, giving rise to breathless celebrations in sections of the media about India being rapidly on its way to being a “superpower” or at the very least an economic powerhouse. While the current global economic crisis has led to some muting of the rhetoric, it is important not to lose sight of some basic and disturbing features of our track record of development even through these years of rapid GDP growth. This paper is an attempt to understand the millennium development goals in a very descriptive and an interesting manner.