The world is off-track to meet most U.N. Millennium Development Goals by 2015 partly because of the U.S.’s lackluster performance in the global effort toward the goals, said Jeffrey Sachs, a U.S.-based economist and special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“In the US, it’s not as if people are debating whether we are going to meet the promises or not, there is simply no debate happening at all,” Sachs told the Telegraph. “If the Obama administration began committing what it promised it would, right now, all the MDGs could be met in Africa by 2015.”
The U.S. is lagging behind other countries in meeting its aid commitments, particularly on devoting 0.7 percent of its gross national income to foreign aid by 2015, the Telegraph reports. The country has allocated only 0.2 percent of its national income to aid efforts in 2009, the newspaper says.
“By contrast Britain was one of the few nations showing sustained commitment to meet its promises on the MDGs,” the Telegraph notes, adding that the U.K. is close to reaching the 0.7 percent of the GNI target by 2013.
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