Countdown to 2015 The Millennium Development Goals John Dornan, Lanarkshire Global Education Centre Tel March 2010

Aims  To build awareness of the goals  To highlight progress  To provide sources of information

Progress Report `More than halfway to 2015, the MDG track record is mixed. Compared to the year 2000, we can point to undeniable progress: three million more children now survive each year; an additional two million people receive treatment for AIDS; and millions more children are in school… Clearly, we have made a real difference. Yet we are falling short of what I know we can do. Just past the halfway point of the race to achieve the MDGs, many countries remain off track. This is particularly true across large parts of Africa and for many of the Least Developed Countries.’ Ban Ki-moon, Un Secretary General, April 2008

Some Good News  In 2007, primary school enrolment reached 88%in the developing world as a whole, up from 83% in  In only five years, coverage of antiretroviral treatment in poorer countries increased tenfold.  The world is ahead of schedule in meeting the 2015 drinking water target. Since 1990, 1.6 billion people have gained access to safe water.  The number of people using improved sanitation facilities has increased by 1.1 billion since  Countries with high malaria control coverage have experienced more than 50% declines in severe malaria cases and deaths in health facilities.  Measles immunization reached 82% of the world’s children in Between 2002 and 2007, measles deaths dropped by 74%.

Could Do Better   Each year, there are between 190 million and330 million cases of malaria worldwide. The disease kills nearly one million people annually.   More than half a million mothers in developing countries die in childbirth or from pregnancy complications every year.   Nearly one billion people today still lack safe sources of drinking water and some 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation services.   In developing regions, more than one quarter of children are underweight for their age.

Useful Sources         

By the end of 2008, the MVP had completed two and a half years of work – reaching the halfway mark in its first five years of operations – and served over 400,000 people in 14 sites in ten countries.