It seems a while ago - at the turn of this century actually - when many nations met and committed themselves to some goals on a broad range of topics. Laudable goals of tackling poverty, disease, ignorance and inequality.
So, now the UN is convening another meeting this month to evaluate how the goals are being achieved. Sadly, it's not a very encouraging score-card, as AP reports:
"But recent reports show that the world's poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have made little headway in eradicating poverty. Africa, Asia and Latin America have seen a lack of progress in reducing mother and child deaths, boosting access to basic sanitation, and promoting women's equality.
Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty said some goals will likely be met, but the poorest are going to be left out, partly because so many governments are not accountable to their people."
And, no less importantly, this is the status of some of the goals:
So, now the UN is convening another meeting this month to evaluate how the goals are being achieved. Sadly, it's not a very encouraging score-card, as AP reports:
"But recent reports show that the world's poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have made little headway in eradicating poverty. Africa, Asia and Latin America have seen a lack of progress in reducing mother and child deaths, boosting access to basic sanitation, and promoting women's equality.
Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty said some goals will likely be met, but the poorest are going to be left out, partly because so many governments are not accountable to their people."
And, no less importantly, this is the status of some of the goals:
- Overall the world is on track to halve the numbers of people in extreme poverty, though some critics say it's mainly because of tremendous improvements in China and India. The proportion living on less than $1 a day in developing countries fell from 46 percent in 1990 to 27 percent in 2005 and should reach the target despite the economic crisis. But even so, the U.N. said, about 920 million people will still be living on less than $1.25 a day in 2015.
- Primary school enrollment rose from 83 percent in 2000 to 89 percent in 2008, which means 70 million children worldwide are not in classrooms. That pace of progress is not sufficient to ensure the goal of universal primary education by 2015.
- Reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters and child mortality by two-thirds has lagged. The World Health Organization said there has been a 34 percent decline to 358,000 deaths in 2008, less than half the goal set in 2000. Ban said this was because so much effort has gone into eradicating poverty and disease. He promised a new initiative at the summit.
- The goal of halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic is unlikely to be met. While the number of new infections has fallen from a peak of 3.5 million in 1996 to 2.7 million in 2008, UNAIDS said five people are becoming infected for every two who start treatment. Two million AIDS-related deaths still occur every year. Despite signs that the epidemic has stabilized in most countries, the disease is spreading fast in Russia, Ukraine and some countries in Central Asia — and UNAIDS estimates that only 40 percent of people who have HIV are aware of it."
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