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# **1. MDGs in Mauritania: Progress to Date**

**The government has set ambitious targets to improve the country’s human development** . The objectives of the PRSP-2 are closely aligned with the MDGs, and in some cases exceed them (Table 1). For instance, the PRSP-2 target for poverty incidence (at 25 percent) is more ambitious than its corresponding MDG (at 28 percent). The same is true for the retention rate. By contrast, recognizing slow progress in reducing maternal and child mortality and expanding access to safe-drinking water, the PRSP-2 targets in these areas are less ambitious than the corresponding MDG targets.

**Table 1. MDGs in Mauritania: Performance, Targets, and Likelihood**

||**Pa**|**st**|**Targ**|**ets**|**Likelihood**<br>|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**MDG**|**Pf**||||_(with current_|
||**eror**|**mance**|**PRP-2**|**MD**|<br>|
|Betw_een 1990 and 2015_|||||_resources and_|
||**1990**|**2004**|**2015**|**2015**|_policies)_|
|**_Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger _**||||||
|**Target 1.**Halve the % ofpeople with income of <$1-a-day<br>||||||
|_Indicator 1._Poverty incidence (% below national poverty<br>line)|56.6|46.7|25.0|28.0|**Low**|
|**_Goal 2. Provide primary education for all_**||||||
|**Target 3.**Ensure that all children completeprimaryschool||||||
|_Indicator 7._% ofpupils starting grade 1 who reachgrade 5|73.8|40.2|100.0|78.0|**Low**|
|**_Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women _**||||||
|**Target 4.**Eliminategender disparityin education||||||
|_Indicator 9._Ratiogirls / boys inprimaryand secondary||||||
|_Indicator 9a._Ratio ofgirls to boys inprimaryeducation|72.0|99.0|100.0|98.0|**High **|
|_Indicator 9b._Ratio ofgirls to boys in secondaryeducation|n/a|85.0|100.0|98.0|**High **|
|**_Goal 4. Reduce child mortality_**||||||
|**Target 5.**Reduce by2/3 the under-five mortalityrate||||||
|_Indicator 13._Under-five mortalityrate(per 1,000)|137.0|135.0|55.0|45.7|**Low**|
|_Indicator 14._ Infant mortalityrate(per 1,000)|126.0|87.0|40.0|42.0|**Low**|
|**_Goal 5. Improve maternal health_**||||||
|**Target 6.**Reduce by3/4 the maternal mortalityratio||||||
|_Indicator 16._Maternal mortality (per 100,000 live births)|930.0|747a/<sup>1</sup>|300.0|232.0|**Low/medium**|
|**_Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases_**||||||
|**Target 7.**Halt and begin to reverse HIV/AIDS||||||
|_Indicator 18._HIVprevalence(%)|0.52|1.77|<1|0.68|**Medium**|
|**Target 8.**Halt and begin to reverse malaria + other diseases||||||
|_Indicator 21._ Prevalence of malaria(%)|12.7|8.85|n/a|4.78|**Low**|
|_Indicator 23._Prevalence of tuberculosis(%)|0.13|0.40|n/a|0.24|**Low**|
|**_Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability_**||||||
|**Target 10.**Halve the % ofpeople without water / sanitation||||||
|_Indicator 30._%population with sustainable access to water|37.0|40.0|75.0|68.0|**Low**|

_Source:_ GIRM 2006, 2007, http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/index.htm. a Corresponds to 2001. 1/ Latest estimate: 684 (GIRM 2007b), not available when this analysis was carried out.

**However, with current resources and policies, Mauritania is highly unlikely to reach most of the MDGs.** Only MDG3 (gender equality) is at hand; with MDG1 (poverty reduction) also a possible – if unlikely – candidate, as it depends on the successful interaction of sustained growth and effective delivery of pro-poor programs. In primary education, reaching 100 percent retention rate, in the light of the negative performance in recent years (Figure 4), also seems unlikely. In addition, Mauritania is off-track with respect to the health-related MDGs, barring the HIV/AIDS indicator and possibly maternal mortality if recent progress is sustained.