UN applauds Ukraine’s progress in achieving Millennium Goals

United Nations Development Program in Ukraine applauds the progress of the Ukrainian authorities in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was stated by deputy director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine Olena Panova during the round table in Kyiv.

"At a preliminary stage the experts came to the conclusion that to date, the process of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by Ukraine as a whole can be evaluated positively," she said.

The UN representative noted that the incidence of extreme poverty has significantly decreased in Ukraine. Meanwhile, progress has been made in the areas of education, maternal health, reducing child mortality. At the same time, there are still problems related to the quality of education, promoting gender equality.

"The rate of HIV infection extension is of particular concern, especially among young people. The tasks of ensuring stable development of environment also remain at risk," she added.

In 2013, Ukraine joined the 40 countries, which are developing special reports on the Millennium Development Goals. This document is expected to be presented to the UN General Assembly in September this year.

The Millennium Development Goals are a versatile tool for measuring social progress, which the world is to achieve by 2015 to improve the lives of people and reduce the unevenness of the global human development. MDGs were adopted in 2000, when the leaders of 189 world countries identified eight universal Goals, signing the UN Millennium Declaration.