Despite setbacks, Morocco making headway towards millennium goals

01/12/2008

In a recent government report, Morocco is shown to have made considerable progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goals, although there is still work to be done.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 01/12/08

[Sarah Touahri] Morocco has made progress in poverty reduction, says Planning Commissioner Ahmed Lahlimi

While Morocco has made progress towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, it still shows some areas of weakness. This was the conclusion of a report issued Wednesday (November 26th) by Morocco's High Commission for Planning.

Morocco has made considerable efforts in some fields, particularly the reduction of poverty and the introduction of universal school education, said Ahmed Lahlimi, High Commissioner for Planning.

He told Magharebia that poverty has dropped nationally, from 15.3% in 2001 to 9% in 2007, whilst the level of those considered to be vulnerable stood at 17.5% in 2007 compared to 22.8% in 2001.

Lahlimi said that to consolidate the gains which have been achieved, Morocco is embarking on a massive programme of reform, made possible by the allocation in 2009 of 53% of the state budget to social sectors, compared with 42% in 1992, the implementation of a medical assistance scheme for low-income Moroccans, compulsory health insurance and intensified infrastructure programmes.

Morocco is performing well in the area of universal primary school education. According to the report, the plan should be completed before 2015. Despite a few setbacks, the school attendance rate has risen from 79.1% in 1999 to 93.5% in 2007. Numbers regarding parity between girls and boys are encouraging in towns and cities, but less so in rural areas.

Access to clean water is another successful area for Morocco. In 2007, 100% of the urban population and 85% of rural residents (up from just 14% in 1994) had access to safe, potable water.

Where HIV/AIDS control is concerned, the report indicates that Morocco is one of the countries that have managed to roll out guaranteed access to triple combination therapy to all AIDS patients.

The High Commissioner for Planning said that comparison with other countries is broadly in Morocco's favour. "This reality was confirmed by the Human Development Report 2007/2008," he said, "which ranks Morocco 28th out of 177 countries in terms of progress made in the field."

Despite these encouraging figures, the HCP report calls on the government to ramp up its effort to combat infant mortality. Morocco still has a long way to go to reduce the death rate by two-thirds from 1990 to 2015.

Maternal mortality figures are also sobering. To achieve its goals, Morocco must reduce the number from 227 to 50 deaths in labour for every 100,000 births.

The report also raises concerns about unhealthy living conditions in the country, advocating a reduction in unemployment and improvements to public housing. There still remain 211,410 shacks for demolition, and the report indicates that slums are proliferating at great speed.

Mourad Ouhaba, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in Morocco, recommended to officials that they aim for objectives beyond the Millennium Development Goals, such as raising the threshold of relative poverty.

Where education is concerned, Ouhaba called on the state to turn its attention to quality as well as attendance. "There must also be statistical analysis and an analytical method for looking at human development indicators, particularly the reasons why rural areas are lagging behind the urban areas, and the reasons behind school dropout," he said.