"Millenium Goals", the global strategy on poverty is failing.

international | anti-capitalism | other press Wednesday September 07, 2005 19:25 by toothpick

World leaders agreed in 2000 on a series of goals to be reached by 2015, including halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, cutting deaths of children under five by two-thirds and achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reduction of child mortality .
improving maternal health, providing vaccines fighting AIDS, TB and Malaria and doing something dinky on the environment.

The Human development report has just been published for 2005.
We have collectively gone backwards rather than forwards.

one child died from poverty every three seconds, 1.2 billion people are living on less than $1 (54 pence) a day and, at current rates of progress, 47 million children would not be in school by 2015.

The cumulative effect of failing to reach the target for cutting child deaths would mean 41 million extra and avoidable deaths over the next decade, the report said.

The U.N. report said 50 countries, with a combined population of 900 million, were actually moving backwards on at least one of the development goals.

Norway is still top of the HD list of countries and the USA has slipped two places this year.
It is widely expected to leave the "top nations" list next year as a result of its "america's challenge thing".

It is important to realise that the USA are resisting the implementation of the "goals" thing. They have their reasons. Something to do with trade and stuff.

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1904992005
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=6065947&cKey=1125999771000