Paying the Price: Why Rich Countries Must Invest Now in a War on Poverty

An Oxfam International Campaign Report

Progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has fallen far short of the promises made in 2000. At the current rate, all but one of them will certainly be missed. The cost of failure will be high: 45 million more children will die between now and 2015 than would be the case if the world met the goal to reduce child mortality. The time for action is running out. 2005 offers an historic opportunity for rich countries to make good on their promises to finance the Goals effectively—and those promises are easily affordable.

In 2005, the Global Call for Action Against Poverty coalition will unite a huge range of groups from around the globe, including national and regional civil-society networks, trade unions, faith communities, and international organizations, with a call for world leaders to make poverty history.

This report forms part of Oxfam’s contribution to the global campaign, making a convincing, well-illustrated argument about the need to meet the MDGs, and giving recommendations for an agenda for change.

The report is available online at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/mdgs_price.htm

More information about the global campaign can be found at www.whiteband.org