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Millennium Development Goals/ United Nations

The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that was put forth by the United Nations. All 192 United Nation member states, and a minimum of 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by 2015. The Millennium Development goals include "reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development." The United Nations General Assembly convened for a special session to discuss the Millennium Development Goals in 2001. The Millennium Development Goals were put forth after the United Nations recognized the need to help developing nations more aggressively. The Millennium Development Goals aim to prompt development by improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries.

The Millennium Development Goals were a result of prior international development targets and were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where all world leaders present adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

There are 8 main chapters to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which are: "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development." Progress towards these Millennium Development Goals has been somewhat uneven; some countries have achieved many of the goals while others may not achieve any. Some countries that have come very far in this quest are China and India. China has cut its poverty population from 452 million to 278 million. India has clear internal and external factors of population and economic development. However, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are the most in need of change but they are also the furthest from it.

There have also been certain steps taken by the international community to help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals put forth by the United Nations. In efforts to accelerate this process, in June of 2005 G-8 Finance Ministers met in London to reach an agreement to provide enough funds to the United Nations organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, and the African Development Bank to cancel and additional $40-55 billion debt owed by members of the HIPC.

With funding from the G-8 countries, the World Bank, the IMF, and the ADB each endorsed the Gleaneagles plan and implemented the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative to effectuate the debt cancellations. With that move, many countries are one step closer to achieving some Millennium Development Goals.

While the progress of achieving the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations has been uneven and many countries have ways to go the creation of this document is extremely important. Organizations such as the United Nations are in a position to motivate other countries to make some changes and make efforts to better themselves. The United Nations has developed specific goals covering a large range of issues as it is truly a magnificent stepping stone that all countries should aspire to.