United Nations member states signed the Millennium Declaration in 2000, committing themselves to an ambitious set of eight goals to be achieved by 2015, according to dpa. World leaders are scheduled to meet next week in New York to take stock of the progress in the last decade and assess what needs to be achieved over the next five years. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than 1 dollar a day. 2 - Achieve universal primary education: Ensure that all children, both boys and girls, are able to attend and complete primary schooling. 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women: Eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015 and increase the number of women in paid employment outside the agricultural sector and ensure their rise to political power. 4 - Reduce child mortality: Reduce by two-thirds the under-5 mortality rate. 5 - Improve maternal mortality: Reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality rate and achieve universal access to reproductive healthcare. 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, and ensure universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS. 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability: Reverse the loss of environmental resources, halve the number of people with no access to clean water and sanitation, and improve the lives of slum dwellers. 8 - Develop a global partnership for development: Improve trade and financial systems, tackle debt, increase access to cheap drugs and spread use of new technology.
