The world is likely to fail to meet the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals related to health, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday at a global forum on health research for poor nations. A rise in funding for research into communicable diseases has not been matched by the power of health systems to deliver, in part because of the failure of governments to invest in the sector, said Margaret Chan.
Equity in Health
UN poverty goals on health out of reach, WHO says
The World Health Organisation (WHO), 29 October 2007
UN Secretary-General appoints High-level Panel on post-2015 development agenda
United Nations: 31 July 2012
The United Nations (UN) has named the 26 members of its new High-level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Three co-chairs have been appointed, including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. The Panel is expected to prepare its development vision to present to UN Member States in 2013, with sustainable development and eradicating poverty at its core. The Panel is part of the Secretary-General’s post-2015 initiative mandated by the 2010 MDG Summit. It intends to take an open, inclusive approach, with consultations involving civil society, the private sector, academia and research institutions from all regions, in addition to the UN system, to advance the development agenda beyond 2015. The work of the Panel will reflect new development challenges while also drawing on experience gained in implementing the MDGs, both in terms of results achieved and areas for improvement.
UN slated by Short for 'hyped' Aids fund
The global health fund conceived by the UN secretary general to combat HIV/Aids has been vastly over-hyped, will not get near its $7bn-$10bn target, and should not be seen as the answer to the pandemic in the developing world, Clare Short, Britain's international development secretary, told the Guardian yesterday.
UN SPECIAL SESSION ON AIDS: DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT ON HIV/AIDS
Global Crisis – Global Action
We, Heads of State and Government and Representatives of States and Governments, assembled at the United Nations, from 25 to 27 June 2001, for the twenty-sixth special session of the General Assembly convened in accordance with resolution 55/13, as a matter of urgency, to review and address the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects as well as to secure a global commitment to enhancing coordination and intensification of national, regional and international efforts to combat it in a comprehensive manner.
UN summit gridlocks
The 2005 World Summit, a “high-level plenary meeting of the 60th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations”, was the grand title of a dreary and lacklustre meeting held in New York on Sept 14–16, reports the 24 September issue of The Lancet. The summit has been widely derided, mainly for its watered-down outcome document, which was painfully agreed on the eve of the summit. For those most concerned about the fate of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with their aim to halve world poverty by 2015, there were one or two potentially bright spots. UN delegates committed an additional US$50 billion to the MDGs over the next 5 years, with every developing country agreeing to create a national plan by the end of 2006 for achieving the MDGs.
UN working group agrees to proposed sustainable development goals
Bridges Africa: 24 July 2014
The UN working group charged with outlining a proposed set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted an outcome document on Saturday. The recommended goals will now be sent to the UN General Assembly for consideration as part of the discussions around the post-2015 development agenda. The final 23-page document maintains the 17 goals outlined in a revised “zero draft” – released by the working group’s co-chairs in early July to serve as a basis for this final meeting – with 169 targets. Sixty-two of these can be classed as “means of implementation,” (MoI) or the methods to achieve each goal. During the closing plenary on Saturday morning, the working group co-chairs said that while they were happy with their efforts in steering participants towards an outcome document, they recognised the final product was not flawless. Another year of discussion is likely as the UN General Assembly reflects upon the proposed goals. The document does not yet contain indicators for measuring progress towards each goal and target, which was part of the working group’s original mandate. The eventual addition of indicators at a later stage may prove a useful opportunity to clarify some of the proposed targets and further work will likely be undertaken in this area.
UN World Water Development Report
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO): 2012
The fourth edition of the World Water Development Report, ‘Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk’ is a comprehensive review of the world's freshwater resources and seeks to demonstrate, among other messages, that water underpins all aspects of development, and that a coordinated approach to managing and allocating water is critical. The report underlines that in order to meet multiple goals water needs to be an intrinsic element in decision-making across the whole development spectrum. It aims to encourage all stakeholders both in and out of the ‘water box’ - water managers, leaders in government, civil society and businesses – to engage early in decision making processes to improve the quality and acceptance of decisions and the probability of successful implementation. It highlights that more responsible action by all water users has enormous potential to lead to better outcomes - but requires political, social, economic and technical responses at all levels of government, businesses and communities, from local to international.
UN-backed global drive to slash maternal and child deaths kicks off
United Nations, World Health Organisation: 28 September 2007
From public rallies in various locations in New York to a meeting of women leaders at the United Nations, Governments and organisations are uniting to launch a new global and unprecedented drive today to slash maternal and child deaths. The "Deliver Now for Women + Children" initiative is a direct response to warnings by the UN that the world is lagging behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals to cut maternal and child deaths by 2015.
UNAIDS and IOM address the vulnerability of mobile populations
UNAIDS' Intercountry Team for Eastern and Southern Africa (UNAIDS ICTESA) and the International Organisation for Migration -Regional Office for Southern Africa (IOM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen collaboration to address the vulnerability of migrant populations, and improve their access to HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
UNAIDS Launches Progress Report
The UN Secretary General and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has released a report, which clearly states that the current pace of country activity on HIV/AIDS is insufficient to meet the 2005 goals agreed by all nations at the Special session on HIV/AIDS in 2001. The report was released at the international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases that took place in Nairobi Kenya.
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