Like a gushing beauty queen on her big night, world leaders told us they want to make the world a better place for poor people.
In New York last month, the UN held an appraisal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a set of much-hyped targets laid out in 2000 to reduce global poverty and other ills by 2015.
All that was missing was a basket full of kittens. Improving the plight of the poor is, of course, a noble goal. From the barrios of Rio de Janeiro to the shantytowns of Mombasa, the wail of hungry infants is a constant reminder of the scale of human suffering. So for the leaders of the world to come together and pledge themselves to fighting hunger and disease is to be commended. But what's missing from all this good intent is a willingness to do the dirty work that could end poverty once and for all. For instance, Ethiopia, the poster child of famine, is once again in need; 5 million of its people will need food aid this year, according to the UN. Read more.
The target date for fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is 2015, and the world knows it is not on course to meet those goals. So world leaders are set to gather at the United Nations [New York, September 20-22] to undertake a comprehensive review, with the aim of agreeing on a roadmap and a plan of action to get to the MDG finishing line on schedule.