The United Nations will use a meeting starting Monday to renew its long-standing fight against poverty and hunger worldwide, with another report saying it is struggling on both fronts, AP reported. The report, the latest in a string of progress reviews on the so-called Millennium Development Goals, says the world will fail to achieve most of the targets to boost wealth, health and the quality of life in poor countries by 2015. The goals were adopted by world leaders in 2000, and include cutting extreme poverty by half, giving all children an education and reversing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. «We cannot allow an unfavorable economic climate to undermine the commitments made in 2000,» said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will try to drum up support for greater aid and political commitment from the rich world for development projects in poorer nations. The report said some of the gains made in recent years to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger and extreme poverty _ living on less than $1 a day _ have been reversed because of the global economic downturn. Other improvements have been more resilient. More children are going to school, and child death rates below the age of 5 have steadily decreased. The U.N. said one area that needs more funding is maternal health programs.
