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UN Summit concludes with adoption of global action plan to achieve development goals by 2015

24 September 2010 15:08 (UTC +04:00)

The outcome document of the three-day Summit â€“ Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals â€“ reaffirms world leadersâ€™ commitment to the MDGs and sets out a concrete action agenda for achieving the Goals by 2015. Based on examples of success and lessons learned over the last ten years, the document spells out specific steps to be taken by all stakeholders to accelerate progress on each of the eight Goals. It also affirms that, despite setbacks due to the economic and financial crises, remarkable progress has been made on fighting poverty, increasing school enrolment and improving health in many countries, and the Goals remain achievable.

In a major push to accelerate progress on womenâ€™s and childrenâ€™s health, a number of Heads of State and Government from developed and developing countries, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, pledged over $40 billion in resources over the next five years. The Global Strategy for Womenâ€™s and Childrenâ€™s Health â€“ a concerted worldwide effort initiated by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon â€“ has the potential of saving the lives of more than 16 million women and children, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, protecting 120 million children from pneumonia and 88 million children from stunting due to malnutrition, advancing the control of deadly diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and ensuring access for women and children to quality health facilities and skilled health workers. In addition, a number of other significant commitments on each of the eight Goals were made by Governments, international organizations and partners as well as by business representatives at the Private Sector Forum organized by the UN Global Compact.