Achieving the millennium development goals for health Evaluation of current strategies and future priorities for improving health in developing countries

Five years after the Millennium Declaration was signed, few of the poorest countries in the world are on track to achieve the millennium development goals for health. 2 In September 2005, heads of state renewed their commitment to these goals and to finding the resources to achieve them. The needs are substantial. An additional $73bn (£41bn; €60bn) in external aid will be needed in 2006 alone for all the millennium development goals, with about $18.5bn for health. In this series we have examined whether the strategies adopted for using the available resources, and those planned for future resources, are appropriate in view of the disappointing progress, changing circumstances, and new evidence. Here, we summarise the key findings for each of the health conditions targeted by the goals and then take the perspective of a policy maker trying to achieve all of them.