The U.N. chief said Monday the world must do more to eradicate poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, where not a single country is on track to meet all the goals of a global anti-poverty campaign launched in 2000.
The U.N.-sponsored Millennium Development Goals were launched at a summit in 2000. They aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 by halving the number of people living on a dollar a day, ensuring all children have an elementary school education, improving health care and making a start toward reversing the AIDS pandemic.
Speaking at a U.N. conference on trade and development in Ghana's capital, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that though many nations were falling behind in Africa, there has been progress and it needs to be replicated.
"Senegal is making great strides toward meeting the water target. ... Niger, Togo and Zambia have made impressive progress in malaria control through the free distribution of bed nets," Ban said, adding that Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had increased primary school enrollment.
"These success stories need to be replicated and scaled-up across Africa with effective support from the international community," Ban said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is "most at risk" for not meeting the poverty-eradication goals, he said. "Here, not a single country is on track" to reach all the goals by 2015.
On Sunday, Ban said the world must urgently increase food production to ease skyrocketing prices and pledged to set up a task force on a crisis threatening to destabilize developing nations.
The cost of food has increased by around 40 percent since mid-2007 worldwide, and the strain has caused riots and protests in countries like Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Egypt.
Ban left Ghana for Liberia late Monday. He continues the rest of his Africa tour this week with stops in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
