A decade after the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, progress toward achieving these goals remain “too slow,” a United Nations report says. If the 2015 deadline is to be met, countries must scale up their efforts, the MDG Report 2010 adds.
Initiatives concerning maternal health and sanitation are still lagging, while huge strides were made in reducing extreme poverty, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and improving access to potable water, according to the annual assessment.
“Though progress has been made, it is uneven. And without a major push forward, many of the MDG targets are likely to be missed in most regions,” Sha Zukang, U.N. undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, said in the report.
Given such MDG data, world leaders need to focus on generating jobs, driving economic growth, ensuring food security, encouraging clean energy use and strengthening partnerships between rich and poor nations to assist the most vulnerable groups, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said.
