Millennium Development Goals Report 2010

It is clear that improvements in the lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hard-won gains are being eroded by the climate, food and economic crises," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the foreword to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, issued on 23 June. But even though the economic crisis took a heavy toll on jobs and incomes around the world, the world is still on track to achieve the MDG target of cutting the rate of extreme poverty in half by 2015, the report notes. It also cites big gains in getting children into primary schools in many poor countries, especially in Africa; strong interventions in addressing AIDS, malaria and child health; and a good chance to reach the target for access to clean drinking water.'