“Higher global food prices are hampering attempts to hit targets for food and nutrition,” and “rates of child and maternal mortality [a]re still ‘unacceptably high’ — partly as a result of surging commodity prices,” according to the Global Monitoring Report 2012, released by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday in Washington, D.C., the Guardian reports (Elliot, 4/20). The report says rising food prices have affected some countries’ ability to reach certain Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a World Bank/IMF press release notes.

“Progress is slowest on maternal mortality, with only one-third of the targeted reduction achieved thus far,” and “[p]rogress on reducing infant and child mortality is similarly dismal, with only 50 percent of the targeted decline achieved,” the press release states, adding that these goals “will not be met in any developing region by 2015.” The report also notes “good progress across some MDGs, with targets related to reducing extreme poverty and providing access to safe drinking water already achieved,” and “targets on education and ratio of girls to boys in schools are within reach,” according to the press release (4/20).