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May 16, 2005
A dangerous world could be made less dangerous if ,
In 2000, the United States and 189 other nations signed on to U.N objectives known as the "Millennium Development Goals" to halve extreme poverty, end hunger, reduce child and maternal mortality and reverse the spread of such diseases as malaria and AIDS by 2015.
To meet these goals, the United States and other industrialized nations agreed to increase development aid to 0.7 percent of their gross national incomes by 2015. To date, only Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have complied. Seven others -- France, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Germany and Britain -- have set timetables.
The United States, with the world's largest economy at $12 trillion, has yet to announce a timetable and is dead last among major donor nations at 0.15 percent of gross national income. "If they (U.S. politicians and policy- makers) think they are saving money, it's a huge mistake," said Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Posted by Syamak Moattari at May 16, 2005 10:55 AM
