“The international community must live up to the commitments it made in support of achieving universally accepted anti-poverty targets, [U.N.] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [on Thursday] said launching a new report [.pdf] which finds that despite significant successes, the global economic slowdown continues to hinder progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” the U.N. News Centre reports (9/19). “The report, published in the run-up to next week’s special session at the U.N. on the MDGs and what follows their 2015 deadline, focuses on the global partnership for development (MDG 8), the vaguest of the eight goals,” The Guardian writes, adding, “MDG 8 covers aid, trade technology and access to affordable essential medicines” (Tran, 9/19).

“The report, ‘The Global Partnership for Development: The Challenge We Face,’ shows that developing countries gained greater access to technologies, markets for their exports, some essential medicines and greater debt relief,” the U.N. News Centre notes. “However, the report calls for bolder action in areas such as pollution, child and maternal health, HIV prevention and basic education,” the news service writes (9/19). According to The Guardian, Ban said, “The picture is mixed. … We can do better. The best way to prepare for the post-2015 era is to demonstrate that when the international community commits to a global partnership for development, it means it, and directs its resources to where they are most needed” (9/19).