UN General Assembly
2013

children die needlessly from preventable causes in the poorest and least developed regions of the world; 7,000 of them are children under the age of 5, who die because they are undernourished. One in every four children is stunted, most of them in the poorest countries. And every day, 800 women die because of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, for basic reasons that could have been prevented. Reversing those trends and creating a better future for the countless millions of impoverished people on our planet is, perhaps, the greatest moral and practical challenge we face today. We can, of course, draw inspiration and hope from our successes. And there have been successes. Thirteen years ago, at the United Nations, world leaders committed to taking tangible, measurable action to tackle global poverty. Huge progress has been made since then under the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Significant numbers of people have been lifted out of poverty. Millions of children are receiving primary education. Two billion people have access to improved water supplies, and HIV/AIDS and other diseases and