Thirteen years on, remarkable progress has been made on the Millennium Development Goals, but a final push is need to achieve the unmet goals.
“Now is the time to step up our efforts to build a more just, secure and sustainable future for all,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the world body released on Monday its report on the progress of the MDGs just two and a half years away from the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline.
Targets that have already been met include halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and providing more than two billion people with access to improved sources of drinking water, as well as reducing mortality rates from malaria and tuberculosis and stopping the surge of HIV infections.
Good progress has also been made on having less undernourished people and those living in slums.
However, the 2013 progress report on the MDGs warned that certain countries are “falling short” on maternal health, universal education, access to sanitation and gender equality. Of particular concern is environmental sustainability, with current carbon dioxide emissions 46 percent higher today than in 1990.
The report also noted that progress has been uneven among goals, regions and population groups, and underscored how the global economic crisis has brought down development aid commitments for fragile countries.
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