“Prime Minister Harper’s plan for the G8 on maternal mortality is not everything that’s needed to tackle the moral affront of millions of mothers dying in childbirth, but it is a start on a job that world leaders need to finish when they gather at the UN in September for a special session on the Millennium Development Goals.

“The MDGs are far off pace in Africa, but the millions of activists around the world who campaigned for them won’t be easily discouraged. Neither should the world leaders whose nations signed on. President Obama has promised to deliver a concrete global action plan at the UN that will make the MDGs a ‘reality.’ The MDGs must stay at the heart of the G8, G20 and UN until leaders agree to a concrete plan to get them back on track. Time is ticking away.”

Background:

President Obama’s Promise: “We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.” – President Obama in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 2009.