The Main Game: Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, 191 member countries of the United Nations, including Australia, came together at the Millennium Summit and committed to achieving eight Millennium Development Goals. These goals set an agenda, including an achievable framework, to address significant issues of global poverty and inequality by 2015:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
Read the aims of each goal and why it's so important for world leaders to keep their commitments.
Play The Main Game: Millennium Development Goals
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target: Reduce by half the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day by 2015.
Every day, 30,000 people die from hunger and poverty. In countries where hunger is most widespread, one in seven children will die before the age of five (FAO 2002).
Hunger and poverty go hand in hand. If you're poor, you may struggle to have enough nutritious food to eat. This can leave you feeling weak and vulnerable to disease. If you become sick or undernourished, you're less likely to go to school and will find it hard to concentrate, learn and work.
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Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Target: To enable all children, girls and boys alike, to complete primary schooling.
Around the world, 115 million children of primary school age do not get the opportunity to go to school - that's more than five times the population of Australia! These are mostly children living in poverty, whose parents may never have had any formal education.
A decent basic education can help people to escape poverty. The ability to read, reason and communicate empowers people to make informed choices about life, and increases their ability to generate income. Boys and girls who attend school are more likely to be healthier and avoid diseases like HIV and AIDS. Educated parents are more likely to send their children to school. Universal primary education can help prepare a skilled workforce to help countries progress economically.
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Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Target: To enable girls to attend all levels of schooling in equal numbers to boys.
While women perform two-thirds of the world's work, they receive only 10% of the world's income. 80% of all refugees are women and their dependent children, and 60% of children not in primary schools are girls. Long-standing inequalities between women and men continue to limit the life choices for women.
Educated girls have more choices in life about marriage, childbirth and work. A few years of basic education can empower women to make changes: to send their own children to school, to have smaller, healthier families, and enjoy a higher standard of living. They are also less likely to be affected by HIV and AIDS.
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Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target: Reduce by two-thirds the number of children who die before their fifth birthday.
One in 12 children in the world do not make it to their fifth birthday. Often, these deaths are the result of preventable illnesses and diseases like diarrhoea, malaria, measles, or respiratory illnesses. These diseases and other poverty-related reasons cause 30,000 children to die every day.
Significant improvements in the health of young children can be made, with the development of small, cost-effective community health services. These services can provide effective immunisation programs and information on the value of insecticide-treated bed nets in preventing malaria. They can also assist parents to increase their awareness of the importance of good hygiene, nutrition, and breastfeeding for the wellbeing of their children.
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Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target: Reduce by three quarters the number of women dying in childbirth.
Every year, 50 million women give birth without the help of a skilled birth attendant. Nearly 600,000 women die every year as a result of difficulties during pregnancy or childbirth. What should be a time of joy and celebration is too often a time of grief and loss in poor communities around the world. In addition to the women who die, many thousands are left injured or infertile after childbirth.
A mother's death can be devastating to the children left behind. In addition to the emotional trauma and grief of losing a mother, these children are much more likely to live in poverty, drop out of school, and be malnourished. Girls especially are expected to take on the responsibilities of the mother in caring for younger children, preparing food and carrying out household tasks
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Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target: To halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and malaria by 2015.
AIDS is now the leading cause of premature death in sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth largest killer worldwide. More than 40 million people live with HIV and AIDS and 14 million children have been orphaned as a result of the disease - 95% of these in developing countries. However, effective programs in countries like Thailand and Uganda have shown that it is possible to reverse infection rates.
Diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are also killers. But they are preventable diseases and can be largely controlled through education, preventative measures like mosquito nets (for malaria), and when illness strikes, appropriate treatment and care. These diseases devastate communities and weaken the economy of many nations by reducing the number of people who are able to work effectively.
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Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target: To reduce by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Access to safe drinking remains a critical challenge for 1.1 billion people, who have to spend significant amounts of time collecting water each day. Water-borne diseases continue to affect the health of these people - especially young children. An estimated 2.6 billion people, or half the developing world, continues to lack decent toilets and basic sanitation. Health problems and the spread of diseases are greatest in rural areas and large urban slums.
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Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Target: To increase development aid, relieve debt and develop fair international trade.
The poorest countries include more than 40% of the world's population, but account for less than 3% of world trade. Goal 8 wants developed countries to adopt a fairer international trading system that would allow developing countries better participation to meet their development needs. This is the area where the least progress has been made in the global partnership to eradicate global poverty. Goal 8 calls on developed countries to commit 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) as aid or official development assistance (ODA) to poor countries. Goal 8 also recognises the importance of debt relief to enable poor nations to increase spending on areas like health and education.