UNIS/INF/287
26 September 2008

Re-issued as received

Major New Commitments to Fight Poverty Announced at UN High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals

VIENNA, 26 September (UN Information Service) - Governments, foundations, businesses and civil society organizations announced significant new commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals, as part of the High-level Event on the MDGs held today at United Nations Headquarters.

Major commitments - including more than $4.5 billion for education and $3 billion for malaria -were announced by major donor countries and partners. Developing countries also announced commitments to mobilize domestic programmes aimed at achieving the universally agreed anti-poverty goals by the target date of 2015.

The following are highlights of the commitments made, based on information available as of mid-afternoon today. A complete compilation, when available, will be posted on the High-level Event website, www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality and Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

  1. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: $1.62 billion over two years in new grants for malaria submitted to its Board for approval in November, including plans for distribution of 100 million additional bed nets.
  2. World Bank: $1.1 billion to expand the Malaria Booster Program, which supports the rapid scale-up of malaria programmes in Africa.
  3. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative for research on a new generation of malaria vaccines.
  4. United Kingdom: over $70 million (£40 million) pledge to support the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria, which the UK encourages the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to host. Additionally, commitment to an increase in malaria R&D funding to at least $9 million (£5 million) per year by 2010 and to provide 20 million of the 125 million bed nets that are needed to close the global bed net gap.
  5. Marathon Oil / Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria / Equatorial Guinea: $28 million co-investment will lay a solid foundation for a capital campaign orchestrated by GBC, Malaria No More and the UN Foundation to leverage the leadership of the world's most prominent business leaders to raise $100 million by the end of 2010.
  6. UN High Commission for Refugees / United Nations Foundation: $2 million grant to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to meet the urgent need for long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets in temporary refugee camps across Africa. Working together, in 2008-2009, the partnership will distribute these bed nets in eight African countries, including Côte d'Ivoire and the Central African Republic in 2008.
  7. Sesame Workshop / Mattel / Malaria No More: $2 million program to provide Sesame-themed malaria education materials to children and parents along with bed nets in Tanzania and Zambia.
  8. The Organization of the Islamic Conference will commit $200 million from its member states to fight malaria.
  9. Denmark committed to doubling assistance to $196 million (DKK 1 billion) in 2010 with the aim to achieve universal access to treatment by 2010 and halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
  10. Japan pledged an additional $560 million to the Global Funds to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the coming years.

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development

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For general media information, contact the UN Department of Public Information:

Martina Donlon
Telephone: (+1-212) 963 6816
Email: donlon@un.org

François Coutu
Telephone : (+1-917) 367 8052
Email: coutu@un.org

Newton Kanhema
Telephone: (+1-212) 963 5602
Email: kanhema@un.org

Pragati Pascale
Telephone: (+1-212) 963 6870
Email: pascale@un.org

For more information on the Millennium Development Goals, please see: www.un.org/millenniumgoals