Abstract : The millennium development goals which was pursued for 15 years by many countries globally has elapsed with many countries which grappled with their inability to achieve up to 30% of their desired goals due to poor planning , implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This article organized and synthesized literatures on the effects of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ways of translating the key health related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number three targets to realities. Electronic search of relevant materials and articles was conducted with focus on millennium development goals (MDGs) and SDGs in Cochrane, Google, PubMed, and official publications of relevant agencies electronically. PubMed, Materials that met the eligibility criteria were extracted, and summarized based predominantly on qualitative level. More than 80% of the MDGs targets were not actualized with huge resources expended. Poor of planning, strict monitoring and evaluation, poor funding, government policies and sociopolitical instabilities were the major pitfalls in the past dispensation of MDG. MDG interventions in Nigeria were grossly unrealized due to political, structural, and systemic failure. Institutionalization of short, medium, and long-term plans and framework will enhance translation of the goal to achievements by 2030.
Keyword : SDGs, MDGs, health coverage, population, policy, Nigeria