Meeting Millennium Development Goals
through local languages
Eight goals were adopted by 189 United Nations member states to be achieved by 2015.
SIL views local language development as essential to achieve these goals.
Goal 4. Reduce child mortality
The mortality rate for children under five years of age is reduced when vital health information about disease prevention and treatment is available in local languages. Conversely, poorly understood health information can lead to dangerous and even fatal misinformation. Ethnolinguistic communities are vulnerable to diarrhea, malaria and other common illnesses when they lack the resources and capability to obtain essential health knowledge.