UNFPA's work is guided by the Programme of Action adopted by 179 governments at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994. The conference agreed that meeting people's needs for education and health, including reproductive health, is a prerequisite of sustainable development.

The main goals of the ICPD Programme of Action are:

• Universal access to reproductive health services by 2015
• Universal primary education and closing the gender gap in education by 2015
• Reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015
• Reducing infant mortality
• Increasing life expectancy

These goals were refined and amplified at the fifth-year review of ICPD implementation
(ICPD +5) in 1999. One of the most important additions concerned HIV/AIDS:

• HIV infection rates in persons 15-24 years of age should be reduced by 25 per cent in the most-affected countries by 2005 and by 25 per cent globally by 2010.

Reaching the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action will be critical for reaching the Millennium Development Goals-global targets set by world leaders in 2000. The United Nations Millennium Declaration focuses on making the right to development a reality for everyone. Progress is based on sustainable economic growth, which must focus on the poor, with human rights at the centre.

The Declaration calls for halving by the year 2015, the number of people who live on less than one dollar a day. This effort also involves finding solutions to hunger, malnutrition and disease, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, guaranteeing a basic education for everyone, and supporting the Agenda 21 principles of sustainable development

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