Pacific Island nations show progress on child mortality MDG but challenged on reducing poverty, report says

"The Pacific Islands are making steady progress on reducing child mortality, but most are struggling to eradicate poverty and generate employment for young and rapidly growing populations," Inter Press Service reports in an article examining how 10 of 14 nations in the region are on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on child mortality. The 2012 Regional MDG Tracking Report (.pdf), recently released by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), "comes three years after PIF countries signed a compact to strengthen the co-ordination of resources to boost development progress," IPS notes. Though many of the countries might reach MDG 4 to halve child mortality by 2015, "[h]alving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, as mandated by MDG 1, is a considerable challenge across the Pacific," the news agency states. IPS discusses progress on the MDG goals for specific nations in the region. "The PIF believes that accelerated regional progress on the goals before 2015 is dependent on political will," the news agency writes (Wilson, 11/7).