UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More than 500 million people can be lifted out of abject poverty, 250 million people will no longer go to bed hungry and 30 million children can be saved if rich countries double development aid over the next 10 years, a new U.N.-sponsored report said Monday.
In a 3,000-word report, some 265 experts came up with long-term projects and quick fixes, such as supplying mosquito bed nets against malaria to creating free school lunch programs -- to meet global goals of alleviating poverty and preventing disease that nations promised at a U.N. summit in 2000.
...
``The system is not working right now -- let's be clear,'' said Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor and lead author of the report, commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. ``It has taken too long to figure out an approach that will work. It's now a question of life and death.''
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Among industrial nations, only Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have spent more than the long-established world target of 0.7 percent of their gross national product. Britain, Belgium, France, Finland and Ireland have made promised to reach the target before 2015.
UNITED STATES LAGGING
The United States with its $12 trillion economy contributes the least development aid among 22 industrial nations with some 0.15 percent, followed by Italy at 0.17 percent, and Japan at 0.20 percent.
http://nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-un-poverty.html?hp&ex=1106024400&en=a3db0891cae3cd5e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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