The UN Millennium Project

Every year, more than 11 million children die, six million of them from preventable diseases, like malaria, measles and diarrhoea. The UN Millennium Project, in its report to be released next week, outlines a plan to stop those children's deaths, cut poverty in half and change the lives of billions of poor people the world over by the year 2015.

On 17 January, the UN Millennium Project will release "A Global Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.'' The following day in Geneva, the World Health Organization will host a special launch focused on health. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals are directly related to health, as are eight targets and 18 indicators.

The Geneva launch will bring together the world's international health organization with the lead health and science experts for the Millennium Project, and will release recommendations associated with each health-related task force.

• WHAT: "A Global Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals"
  WHO: Dr LEE Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, Dr. Kerstin Leitner, Assistant Director-General, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments - Dr. Margaret Kruk, Policy Advisor for Health, Millennium Project, Jeffrey A. McNeely, chief scientist for the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Mr. Andrew Cassels, Director, Dept. of MDGs, Health and Development Policy
• WHEN: Tuesday 18 January 2005, 12:30 H
• WHERE: Headquarters of the World Health Organization, Salle A

The Geneva-based UN experts who took part in this process have also been invited to take part in the launch. Journalists are invited to the press conference launch. A press release will be made available to journalists on 18 January.

The UN Millennium Project is an independent advisory body to the UN Secretary-General that was commissioned in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan to meet the MDGs. The Geneva launch is one of several Europe-based launches with heads of agencies and government leaders planned in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Britain, as well as with the European Union in Brussels.

More information on the MDGs could be found at: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/.