Delivering the MDGs: We cannot fail

Reducing global poverty is the single biggest challenge the international community faces today. It will take the sustained and committed efforts of rich countries - north and south - as well as the private sector, faith groups and civil society from across the world for us to achieve this goal.

At the start of the new millennium, world leaders gathered at the United Nations to make a promise - that we would do everything within our power to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals agreed at that summit set clear and measurable targets on a range of vitally important issues such as increasing the number of children in school, improving health care, cutting maternal and child deaths, combating major diseases and stopping environmental degradation.

All of these things make a huge difference to the quality of people's lives across the world and we have seen big changes; there are now 41 million more children in school, three million more children are surviving every year, and two million more people are receiving treatment for AIDs. This shows that it is possible to make real progress.

But - halfway to 2015 and in the run-up to Thursday's meeting on the MDGs at the United Nations - we now need to ensure that the promises of the international community do not become mere aspirations.

We must all work together, in this 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to deliver the MDGs so that every person has health, education, shelter and security.

But despite the progress we have made so far, and despite the good will and the good work of millions, our goals are simply not being met and there is much more we need to do.

The UN summit on Thursday will bring together representatives of G8 and European governments with their African, Asian and Latin American counterparts, as well as faith leaders, business leaders and civil society organisations from across the world. We, the international community, must commit to step up the pace and to make 2008 a turning point.

We have the technology, the knowledge, and the wealth.

All we need now is the will. We can only succeed through acting together. Failure is not an option.

Ms Hancock is Acting British High Commissioner to Malta.