“Time is short. We must seize this historic moment to
act responsibly and decisively for the common good.”
With only six years until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chose these words to strongly urge Governments to engage constructively in the preparations for a high-level meeting in September 2010 to review progress towards the MDGs and other international development goals.
The UN General Assembly took a decision in July 2009 to hold such a high-level plenary meeting at the opening of its 65th session in 2010. At the Assembly’s request, the Secretary-General has issued a report setting out a proposed format and modalities for the event, which are expected to be agreed through consultations before the end of 2009. The Assembly has encouraged all countries to be represented at this important meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government.
In the 2009 Millennium Development Goals Report released earlier this year, the Secretary-General noted: “We have made important progress in this effort, and have many successes on which to build. But we have been moving too slowly to meet our goals”. The 2010 high-level meeting, he hopes, will not only result in a renewal of existing commitments but also can decisively galvanize coordinated action among all stakeholders and elicit the funding needed to ensure the achievement of the Goals by 2015.
A. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
Target 2: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
Target 3: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
B. Achieve universal primary education
Target 1: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
C. Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 1: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
D. Reduce child mortality
Target 1: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
E. Improve maternal health
Target 1: Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.
Target 2: Achieve universal access to reproductive health .
F. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 1: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Target 2: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
Target 3:Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
G. Ensure environmental sustainability
Target 1: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target 2:Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss.
Target 3:Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Target 4: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
H.Develop a global partnership for development
Target 1: Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states.
Target 2:Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.
Target 3:Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt.
Target 4: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
Target 5: In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.
How will the world look in 2015 if the goals are achieved?
- More than 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty.
- More than 300 million will no longer suffer from hunger.
- Dramatic progress in child health will save 30 million children and more than 2 million mothers.
- More than 350 million people will have access to safe drinking water.
- More than 650 million people will have the benefits of basic sanitation.
- Hundreds of millions more women and girls will lead their lives in freedom, with more security and more opportunity.
- Behind these large numbers are the lives, hopes, and capabilities of people who also seek to end the burden of grinding poverty.
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