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.

I was at the UN in September 2000, when world leaders met at the Millennium Summit and pledged to work together to free humanity from the “abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty.” These pledges include commitments to improve access to education, health care, and clean water for the world's poorest people; abolish slums; reverse environmental degradation; conquer gender inequality; and cure HIV/AIDS. Read more.