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United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concluded on 22 September, 2010 in New York with the adoption of a global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by 2015 target date. It followed announcement of major new commitments for women’s and children’s health and other initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease. The outcome document of the three-day Summit – Keeping the Promise : United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals – reaffirms world leaders’ commitment to the MDGs and sets out a concrete action agenda for achieving the Goals by 2015. Based on examples of success and lessons learned over the last ten years, the document spells out specific steps to be taken by all stakeholders to accelerate progress on each of the eight Goals. It also affirms that, despite setbacks due to the economic and financial crises, remarkable progress has been made
on fighting poverty, increasing school enrolment and improving health in many countries, and the Goals remain achievable. Background of MDGs When 189 Heads of State and government from the North and South, as representatives of their citizens, signed onto the Millennium Declaration at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, there was a palpable sense of urgency. Urgency to "free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.” Since then many events have been unfolded while trying to meet those goals. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include eradicating extreme
poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development. These are the goals and targets : 1. End poverty and hunger— Over the years, we've been inundated with the statistics and the pictures of poverty around the world, so much so that many people in both the North and South have come to accept it as an unfortunate but unalterable state of affairs. The truth, however, is that things have changed in recent years. The world today is more prosperous than it ever has been. The technological advances we have seen in recent years have created encouraging new opportunities to improve economies and reduce hunger. The Targets ● Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day. ● Achieve full and productive employment and decent work
for all, including women and young people. ● Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. 2. Universal education—Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, too many children in the world today grow up without this chance, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. A sustainable end to world poverty as we know it, as well as the path to peace and security, requires that citizens in every country are empowered to make positive choices and provide for themselves and their families. The Targets ● Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. 3. Gender equality—Poverty
has a woman's face. Global prosperity and peace will only be achieved once the entire world's people are empowered to order their own lives and provide for themselves and their families. Societies where women are more equal stand a much greater chance of achieving the Millennium Goals by 2015. Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner. The Target ● Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. 4. Child health—One of the darkest characteristics of poverty is that is seems to prey on the vulnerable and defenceless. In lowincome countries, one out of every 10 children dies before the age of five. In wealthier nations, this number is only
one out of 143. The Targets ● Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate. 5. Maternal health—Many people consider the day their child was born the happiest day in their life. In poorer countries, the day a child born is all too often the day its mother dies. The lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth in Africa is 1 in 22, while it is 1 in 120 in Asia and 1 in 7,300 in developed countries. The Targets ● Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio [MMR].
on fighting poverty, increasing school enrolment and improving health in many countries, and the Goals remain achievable. Background of MDGs When 189 Heads of State and government from the North and South, as representatives of their citizens, signed onto the Millennium Declaration at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, there was a palpable sense of urgency. Urgency to "free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.” Since then many events have been unfolded while trying to meet those goals. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include eradicating extreme
poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development. These are the goals and targets : 1. End poverty and hunger— Over the years, we've been inundated with the statistics and the pictures of poverty around the world, so much so that many people in both the North and South have come to accept it as an unfortunate but unalterable state of affairs. The truth, however, is that things have changed in recent years. The world today is more prosperous than it ever has been. The technological advances we have seen in recent years have created encouraging new opportunities to improve economies and reduce hunger. The Targets ● Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day. ● Achieve full and productive employment and decent work
for all, including women and young people. ● Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. 2. Universal education—Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, too many children in the world today grow up without this chance, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. A sustainable end to world poverty as we know it, as well as the path to peace and security, requires that citizens in every country are empowered to make positive choices and provide for themselves and their families. The Targets ● Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. 3. Gender equality—Poverty
has a woman's face. Global prosperity and peace will only be achieved once the entire world's people are empowered to order their own lives and provide for themselves and their families. Societies where women are more equal stand a much greater chance of achieving the Millennium Goals by 2015. Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner. The Target ● Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. 4. Child health—One of the darkest characteristics of poverty is that is seems to prey on the vulnerable and defenceless. In lowincome countries, one out of every 10 children dies before the age of five. In wealthier nations, this number is only
one out of 143. The Targets ● Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate. 5. Maternal health—Many people consider the day their child was born the happiest day in their life. In poorer countries, the day a child born is all too often the day its mother dies. The lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth in Africa is 1 in 22, while it is 1 in 120 in Asia and 1 in 7,300 in developed countries. The Targets ● Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio [MMR].
