The Millennium Development Goals or MDGs were identified by the
World Health Organisation in terms of the Millennium Declaration
signed by 189 countries in 2000. In its publication concerning the
status of MDGs in 2005, the World Health Organisation ("the
WHO") stated that the MDGs "refl ect an unprecedented
commitment by the world's leaders to tackle the most basic
forms of injustice and inequality in our world: poverty, illiteracy
and ill-health" (see Health and the Millennium Development
Goals, Report by the World Health Organisation, 2005). The target
date to achieve the MDGs is 2015.
The MDGs therefore are a set of goals that need to be reached by
governments who have signed the Millennium Declaration and are
required as a result to address issues concerning ill-health and
poverty within their various countries. The health-related MDGs are
described by the WHO as not necessarily covering "all the
health issues that matter to poor people and poor countries.
