NiiAmah Stephens, a program officer for Africa on the Global Policy and Advocacy Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, “MDG success in Malawi and Liberia is far from complete — both countries are expected to miss at least five out of the eight goals, with varying progress on specific targets and indicators. And even though their MDG 4 targets may have been reached, Liberia and Malawi (as well as Ethiopia and Tanzania for that matter) still have child mortality rates that are high compared to the global average. All four of these countries are among the 176 governments that have pledged to recommit to improving child survival as part of A Promise Renewed. Some of these pledgers still have a long way to go in their efforts, but if Liberia and Malawi can overcome myriad challenges to join Ethiopia and Tanzania as child survival success stories, there’s hope that the progress we are seeing elsewhere in Africa can and will continue” (1/24).