BMJ  2004;329:394-397 (14 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7462.394

Education and debate

Can the millennium development goals be attained?

¹ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, ² World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland

To achieve the UN's goals worldwide, less developed countries need to address weaknesses in health systems and policy makers need to look beyond aggregate national figures to inequalities in outcomes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

In September 2000 the largest ever gathering of heads of state ushered in the new millennium by adopting the UN Millennium Declaration.¹ The declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals to be reached by 2015.²

The eight goals in the section on development and poverty eradication are known as the millennium development goals. They build on agreements made at major United Nations' conferences of the 1990s and represent commitments to reduce poverty and hunger, to tackle ill health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water, and environmental degradation (box). The big difference from their predecessors is that rather than just set targets for what developing countries aspire to achieve, the goals are framed as a compact that recognises the contribution that developed countries can make through fair trade, development assistance, debt relief, access to essential medicines, and technology transfer. . . . [Full text of this article]

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Health and the millennium development goals

Are international goals worthwhile?

A mixed picture at half time

Measuring progress

Ends and means

Whose goals are they anyway?

Who benefits if the goals are achieved?

What needs to be done?

In summary

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