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Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty

Stark Contrasts Between and Within Regions
Moreover, country performance was more homogeneous than in any other region: except for Afghanistan, no country experienced reversals in the key indicators for the Millennium Development Goals More

Good Performance by Some of the Poorest Countries

There were also dramatic reductions in some of the poorest countries in Asia. Bhutan and Lao People ’s Democratic Republic reduced under-five deaths from around 16%to 10%, and Bangladesh from 14%to 8%.

Gender Gaps

One clear indicator of the gender crisis is the gap in mortality rates between men and women. Despite women ’s biological advantage, they have higher mortality rates in a number of countries, mainly in South and East Asia. More

Nurses, trained birth attendants and community health workers are the limbs of the health system, enabling the outreach that is critical to successful reproductive health services. More

Focusing on Essential Interventions

Cash-strapped governments have traditionally tried to ration health care by limiting over all budgets not directing resources to specific illnesses or diseases. different approach would be to ration funds based on essential interventions. Mexico has taken this approach, and Bangladesh, Colombia and Zambia are beginning to.

Public Policies to Improve People's Health and Education

Where poor people struggle to cover charges, they should be helped through credit schemes. Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank has been extending credit for water and sanitation, on a group basis, for years.

Making Private Provision Work for Poor People

To avoid giving windfall gains to the middle class that customarily purchase private education, vouchers should be restricted to poor families as in Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. More

Involving Non Governmental Organizations

Social service provision by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been viewed as the "middle way " between market and state provision.  More

Addressing the Risks of Privatization

Too often it is assumed that private sector involvement in water implies the involvement of foreign multinational companies.  More

Preconditions for Effective Decentralization

Patronage systems whether dominated by political parties or local elites, or reflecting an undemocratic environment can also hijack decentralization  More

Ensuring that these three actors state authorities, local authorities and civil society interact to improve the lives of poor people is a complex challenge. More

Trade Opening Markets, Reducing Subsidies

Most rich countries apply higher tariffs to agricultural goods and simple manufactures the very goods that developing countries produce and can export  More