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The 2024 Global Conference speaker roster is now live and expanding! Explore the growing lineup, with more additions expected before the program release in early April.

Lessons of the Millennium Development Goals

Did the United Nations' ambitious Millennium Development Goals improve the health of people in emerging regions of the world? In this paper, a discussion of the precursors of higher living standards and better health, Milken Institute Health Economist Ken Sagynbekov focused his data-driven inquiry on the effects of the MDGs, adopted in 2000, on the maternal mortality rate, the under-5 mortality rate, and the HIV/AIDS prevalence. While expanding conventional methodological approaches to the subject, he concludes that these goals have not been the primary drivers of the improvement we've seen, but have been complementary to the main factor: real income growth.