United Nations Day is October 24th

October 16 - 24, 2009

The Millennium Development Goals

In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals. 2007 marks the midpoint in measuring progress toward achieving these goals by 2015 and you can view the 2007 Report at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/mdg2007.pdf

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by reducing by half the number of people living on less than $1 a day and reducing by half the number of people who suffer from hunger;

Achieve universal primary education by ensuring that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling;

Promote gender equality and empower women by eliminating gender disparities at all levels of education;

Reduce child mortality by reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate of children under five;
Improve maternal health by reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio and achieving universal access to reproductive health;

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases by halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, achieving universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all who need it, and halting and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases;

Ensure environmental sustainability by integrating principles of sustainable development, reducing by half the number of people living without sustainable access to clean drinking water, and improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers; and

Develop a global partnership for development by developing further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, and includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction— nationally and internationally.