This report seeks to identify the achievements Jamaica has been making in terms of reaching the eight Millennium Development Goals set by the UNDP

One can safely say that the country is on track in terms of achieving this MDG. For instance there has been a reduction in the poverty levels since 1990 - 2001. In 1990the poverty level was at a high of 28.4 and in 2001 was there was a reduction in the total number of person living under the $1 poverty line.

Jamaica has done very well with respect to this MDG even before it was made. Jamaica is one of the high achievers in ensuring that a majority of the population receive primary education. In 1990 there was a 95.6% attendance rate at the primary level and in 2001 it increased to 96.2%. The country is now faced with dealing with the quality, specifically for those in the rural areas.

Lagging is the status that Jamaica has in terms of eliminating the disparity of gender in primary and secondary education. This is preferred to be achieved by 2005 and by 2015 should be in all levels of education. Research has shown that there are more girls enrolled at the secondary and tertiary levels of education than boys. However, Jamaica is still faced with the problem of ensuring that women can adequately participate in major political decisions, that there is a breakaway from the belief that the woman's place is in the home and ensure a better representation of men in the upper and secondary education system.

It may seem that Jamaica need to adopt a strategic plan so that they can move from being far behind in achieving this goal of reducing the child mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. Therefore it would be wise if they copy from other countries that are on track with goal 4 as they have no sustained policy action to reduce the rates and there is a major problem of under-registration of births.

Jamaica is far behind in achieving this goal also as they possess no sustained policy to use to ensure a reduction in the mortality rate.

Jamaica has been doing some work in this area as they have made success in controlling malaria. Irregardless of this achievement they are lagging in the control of HIV/AIDS. This is evident in the number of HIV/AIDS cases where there where 70 reported cases in 1990 and in 2001 6401. this is due to mainly to the fact that the problem is not been publicized enough on the political agenda and the culture of Jamaicans which is a major hindrance to the progress of achieving the MDG.

Although poverty seems to be slowing down the progress of the country in achieving the MDG as many poor people have to cut down trees to burn coal as a way of making money for the immediate family they are still on track in achieving the goal. For example the proportion of people without piped water in 1990 was 38.8% and in 2001 a decrease to 29.1%.

This goal has been constantly facilitated by mulitlateral and bilateral sources to make progress in an effort to achivee the goal. Jamaica is still lagging in reducing the youth unemployment levels, howvever progress in technology is widening in access.