Box 1.1:- Millennium Development Goals
There are eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For each goal one or more targets have been set, most for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark.

  • Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 2015 Halve the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day, and Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

  • Achieve universal primary education
Target 2015 Ensure that all girls and boys will be able to complete primary school.

  • Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 2005, 2015 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and all levels of education no later than 2015.

  • Reduce child mortality
Target 2015 Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate of children under five.

  • Improve maternal health
Target 2015 Reduce by three-quarters the ratio of women dying in childbirth.

  • Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 2015 Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS, and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

  • Ensure environmental sustainability
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target 2015 Reduce by halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
Target 2020 Achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

  • Develop a global partnership for development
Develop an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system that includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – nationally and internationally. Address the special needs of the least developed countries, and landlocked and small island developing states.
Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries. Develop decent and productive work for youth.
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies – especially information and communications technologies.

Source www.undp.org