ADB says South Asia not meeting key MDG targets

South Asian nations are making the least progress in the Asia-Pacific region on meeting the Millennium Development Goals they pledged to achieve by 2015, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
 
The goals include reducing child and maternal mortality, halving poverty and hunger, providing universal primary education, gender equality and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.
 
The ADB says all South Asian countries, with the exception of Sri Lanka, have fallen behind in achieving MDGs on poverty reduction, eliminating hunger, completion of basic education, gender parity and tertiary education."
 
An ADB report said that while the Asia-Pacific region as a whole had made "big gains" in reducing poverty and is moving fast on other goals, there are still high levels of hunger as well as child and maternal mortality.
 
The region has more than 60 percent of the global population and incorporates more than 50 countries.