15/4/2005
Progress In Meeting MDGs Still Insufficient, Experts Conclude

A new report by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund out this week confirms that progress towards meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is still wanting. "The credibility of the entire development community is at stake as never before," said James Wolfensohn, the retiring World Bank President, introducing the Global Monitoring Report for 2005, which concludes that rich and poor countries alike must take bold and urgent action to reach the set of recommendations and targets designed to reduce or eliminate numerous social ills by 2015.

"Behind cold data on the MDGs are real people and lack of progress has real and tragic consequences," said the lead report author, Zia Qureshi of the World Bank. "Every week, 200,000 children under 5 die of disease. Every week 10,000 women die giving birth. In sub-Saharan Africa alone this year, 2 million people will die of AIDS. Worldwide, more than 100 million children in developing countries are not in school."

Wolfensohn called on rich countries to deliver on the promises they have made in terms of aid, trade and debt relief, but warned that developing countries – especially in sub-Saharan Africa – needed to aim higher and do better in terms of their own policies and governance and to make more effective use of aid." The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and its African Peer Review Mechanism are promising African-led initiatives to strengthen institutions, the report says.

The Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty by 2015 would likely be met at the global level, but not in sub-Saharan Africa unless progress there was accelerated quickly, the report says.

Another Goal is reducing maternal and child deaths. This also looks in jeopardy according to a meeting of health officials, medical professionals and advocates that took place in New Delhi, India, this week. A major co-operative effort could save the lives of 7 million women, babies and children each year, the experts concluded.

Appealing for strong partnerships that include governments, development partners, donors, civil society, the private sector and others,” the conference declaration called on donors to close an estimated $9 billion annual funding gap for maternal and child health programmes.