The MDG, an unequal opportunity for children

When, in 2015, the formal deadline for evaluating the degree of compliance with the MDG was reached, the international community had to evaluate the achievements and reached the conclusion that at that moment the probability of a child surviving and developing adequately was greater than in 2000, when the objectives were established. Over this period child survival and primary schooling had risen and, on the other hand, the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child had decreased. However, in spite of the important advances achieved over these 15 years, millions of children, the neediest and most excluded, the most vulnerable, had been left behind, and this meant an increase in the equality gap.  There was therefore a need to invest so that all children had had opportunities, because this is the best tool for both people and societies to obtain immediate and long-term benefits. To progress –or not- towards equality has long-lasting repercussions on countries as regards their stability and economic growth, and taking notice of them is the only way to achieve world goals for sustainable development. Given this state of affairs, the international community is compelled to design a new agenda which is able to strengthen the systems for protecting children in all the countries in the world, and which uses indicators that give account of the progress made disaggregating the data so that no vulnerable collective is invisible, and which demands accountability.