Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Millennium Development Goals Need More Funding, Policy Changes Joe DeCapua 16 September 2010 From September 20^th to the 22^nd, the United Nations holds a summit on the eight Millennium Development Goals. Established in 2000 by 191 governments, the MDGs have a target date of 2015. The summit will assess how much progress has been made and determine what still needs to be done. âWe hope to see a renewed commitment by not only world governments, but by the private sector, non-profits and individuals and foundations and all sorts of people to meeting the worldâs Millennium development,â says Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation, which lobbies for the U.N. The MDGs deal with issues such as poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, education, clean water and others. âAll the things that will make our world a better place,â says Calvin. Action, not words Major international summits usually produce declarations of commitment. However, many NGOs say while intentions may be good, many goals or programs fail to get the timely funding and support they need. But Calvin says the U.N. Millennium Development Summit will produce more than platitudes. âIâm confident weâre going to see some very exciting commitments this time, not only of money, but of product, of resources that include technology and other new innovations,â she says.  âI think we donât want to just judge everything by strictly what comes from a governmentâs official development assistance.â Calvin expects to see many commitments from private companies but adds, âWe definitely need government money and the U.S. has put up a really strong development framework that is built around the MDGs. It includes $63 million for a global health initiative. Itâs a tough time economically, but I believe everyone now knows that itâs in both the U.S. national interests and in the worldâs interests for us to meet these commitments.â How close to reaching MDGs? âThereâs been enormous progress on universal access to primary education. And weâre likely to get to that one,â she says. For example, she says countries such as Tanzania and Rwanda have new policies ensuring access to elementary education and protecting womenâs health. âWeâre a long way toward meeting those goals, but weâre not there yet. And so weâre hoping that weâll have a renewed commitment of both financial support and also policy changes on the ground to help us get there,â she says. Calvin says âreal progressâ is being made against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. âWeâre now looking at ending malaria deaths by the year 2015, which is a tremendous achievement and one that no one expected in the year 2000. While we have five years to go, we know what the specific interventions are.  So we know we can just get there if everybody can stay focused,â she says. .