The UN Millennium Development Goals…and Why You Should Care!

Today, September 25, 2008, world leaders are meeting at the United Nations (UN) in New York to report on the progress we, the world, have made on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are eight goals that were agreed to by UN members in 2000 and are focused on erradicating extreme poverty in the world, the 1.2 billion people that live on less than $1 U.S. Dollar per day.

For more on the MDGs compiled by Episcopal Relief and Development, go to http://www.e4gr.org/mdgs/fast_facts.html

The UN has set targets for each goal to be accomplished by 2015. I will outline these targets below. Right now, in 2008 we are very far behind on our targets.

The United Nations MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

(For more detailed information on each goal, please click on the link which will take you to the UN website on that goal).

GOAL 1:
ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER

• 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

GOAL 2:
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

GOAL 3:
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

GOAL 4:
REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

• Target 1:
  Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

GOAL 5:
IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

• Target 1:
  Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
• Target 2:
  Achieve universal access to reproductive health

GOAL 6:
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

GOAL 7:
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

GOAL 8:
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

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

There are many reasons to care. First and foremost, because we are all humans.  For more in depth facts and progress reports, please visit each goal and click on the links for the MDG Monitor of progress and the Fact Sheet found on each goal page. For more on the MDGs compiled by Episcopal Relief and Development and what you can do, go to http://www.e4gr.org/mdgs/fast_facts.html

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