Some Asian nations not on track to achieve MDGs : UN report

United Nations, Oct 3 (UNI) Some countries in Asia and the Pacific are not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), meant to eliminate social ills including poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy by 2015, a UN report says.

The report 'Millennium Development Goals : Progress in Asia and the Pacific,' which will be released on October eight, says that progress had not been uniform in the region and that some countries faced challenges in reducing poverty, child mortality and malnourishment and improving quality of drinking water and sanitation.

While some developing nations in the region were trying to achieve the Goals, no country was on course to achieve all eight of them, the report, which will be launched by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The report provides a detailed picture of how each country in the region is fairing in its pursuit of the MDGs. While most of the developing countries can point to success in some of the development goals, none is on course to achieving all of them.

The report analyses disparities within countries based on household survey data.

UNI