Major UN MDG meeting
October 2, 2008
An historic gathering with representatives from more than 140 countries meeting alongside private sector, faith and civil society leaders at the United Nations took place last Thursday to accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals and announce over $16 billion of new commitments.
Hosted by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the General Assembly, the UN High Level Event on the MDGs was part of a week of action in New York during which over 40 partnership events took place involving an unprecedented range of stakeholders. Everyone from Bill Gates to President Kikwete. From the PM of Qatar to the Archbishop of York. From the head of Coca Cola to Mohammed Yunus was in New York to renew efforts to deliver the MDGs.
The Pope, Bono, Bob Geldof, Queen Rania, Archbishop Desmond Tutu alongside celebrities from every continent including Rahul Bose, Will.I.Am, Angelique Kidjo, Wyclef Jean, Annie Lennox, Kristin Davis and Elle Macpherson were also involved in lending their support.
Commitments
The closing plenary of the High Level Event the Secretary-General announced over $16 billion of new commitments including $4.5 billion for education and $3 billion for malaria. To keep track of progress, the Secretary-General and the President of the UN General Assembly called for an MDG Review Summit in 2010.
In the UK Government’s priority areas of malaria, education, health and food new commitments of $11.5 billion were made.
To reverse the spread of malaria:
- The Malaria Action Plan launched to point the way towards universal coverage of bed-nets by 2010, and achieving near zero malaria deaths by 2015.
- The UK is providing 20 million more bed nets by 2010, increasing funding for vaccine research of up to £5 million by 2010, and committing £40 million to make sure the poorest have access to the latest and best anti-malarial drugs.
To ensure that by 2010, 4 million more children’s lives are saved and 33 million more births are attended by skilled health workers, commitments included:
- £450 million from the UK over the next three years to support national health plans, including funding for more nurses, midwives and doctors in eight of the poorest countries.
- A new taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health, launched by the UK, Norway, the World Bank and others, will help towards funding over 1 million health workers, saving 10 million lives by 2015, and will report to the G8 next year.
To get 25 million children into school by 2010 as a milestone towards universal primary education by 2015, a Class of 2015 partnership was launched, alongside $4.5 billion of new pledges including:
- £50 million from the UK for the Education Fast-Track Initiative, as part of the UK’s commitment to give £8.5 billion over ten years up to 2015 towards education.
- Comic Relief and the UK Government will announce a new £10 million partnership through which school children in the UK will raise money for schools in Africa, and UK and African children will work together on how the money should be spent.
- Pledges from FIFA that the enduring legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be every African child in school and that they will mobilise support for education from 30 million fans watching the 2010 South African World Cup.
To halve the number of people going hungry by 2015, and to tackle the immediate food crisis reverberating around the world and especially the Horn of Africa commitments included:
- Emergency food aid worth $1.75 billion to stop starvation in the Horn of Africa, and for the rapid distribution of support, including seeds and fertilizers, to 30 priority countries in time for the next planting season, taking forward a Global Partnership on agriculture and food.
Next steps
The UK’s three main objectives following the event will be:
- Tracking the implementation of all the actions announced during the week
- Encouraging the UN to produce better analysis of where the MDGs remain off-track and what needs to be done to get them back on track
- Maintaining a high-level, political focus on accelerating progress on the MDGs and supporting the proposal for an MDG Review Summit in 2010.
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