Aid
The Millennium Development Goals report 2009
The Millennium Development Goals report 2009: is progress being made?
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Millennium Development Goals: Coordinating Global and National Efforts , 2009
The half-way point to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has passed and with it any realistic hope of achieving them by the 2015 deadline. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, concedes as much in the press release which accompanies this document, the UN's official 2009 MDGs review - in contrast with previous, energising 'rallying calls'.
Whilst undeniable progresss has been made in many areas - for access to safe drinking water and universal primary education - this extensive document does for many MDG targets, make for sombre reading. Indeed, such has been the impact of the financial crisis and lack of aid assistance - though promised at many G8 meetings - for some targets in some regions, the review highlights that progress is reversing and in danger of being lost.
The document highlights a number of key points, including:
- the proportion of employed people living below $1.25 a day - the poverty line - has slipped back to 1997 levels in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania
- steep food prices are being blamed as progress is halted on ending hunger in many regions
- the world is edging closer to universal primary education, but too slowly to meet the 2015
target - Four years after the target date of 2005, gender parity in education has yet to be achieved
- Relatively little progress has been made in maternal mortality - especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
