United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday called on UN member-states to build on the foundation laid by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which he said had lifted nearly one billion out of extreme poverty.

Ban also credited the MDGs for increasing universal primary education, reducing maternal and infant mortality by nearly 50%, and increased access to clean drinking water. He was speaking at the start of the General Debate, which is part of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), underway in New York. More than 120 world leaders will participate in the debate on Wednesday in which three issues will invariably, feature prominently in much of the speeches.

The broad focus of this year’s UNGA is the finalisation of the post-2015 agenda as the deadline for the MDGs in September next year looms larger.

Ban said since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration nearly fifteen years ago, the lives of millions of people worldwide have undoubtedly improved.

“A number of MDGs targets had already been achieved, others are on course to be met, while some are unlikely to be met by the target date,” he said.

“With less than 470 days to the MDG target date, we must intensify our efforts to accelerate progress and achieve as many millennium goals as possible in the remaining period.”

The theme for the UNGA is “Delivering on and implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda”.

There are proposals to replace the MDGs with what is being referred to as the new sustainable development goals which outline 17 goals and 169 targets. The MDGs have just eight goals and 21 targets.

Ban said the new agenda should promote sustained and inclusive economic growth, safeguard the future of the planet, and lead to the achievement of sustainable development.

“If we are to elaborate and successfully implement a truly transformative agenda, we will need to bring about profound and lasting changes in the way we think, the way we act, and the way we relate to each other.”

Ebola outbreak

On the outbreak of Ebola, which has resulted in the loss of over two thousand five hundred lives in some West African countries, Ban said the crisis was an example of a threat that had global implications.

He said the primary objective should be to immediately stop the spread of Ebola and provide treatment to those affected.

In his speech, US President Barack Obama said America is deploying doctors and scientists – supported by military – to help contain the outbreak of Ebola and pursue new treatments.

“But we need a broader effort to stop a disease that could kill hundreds of thousands, inflict horrific suffering, destabilize economies, and move rapidly across borders. It’s easy to see this as a distant problem – until it isn’t.”

Terrorism

Obama also challenged world leaders to confront terrorism. “There is much that must be done to meet the tests of this moment. But today I’d like to focus on two defining questions at the root of many of our challenges – whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the UN’s founding; and whether we will come together to reject the cancer of violent extremism,” Obama said in clear reference to the Islamist grouping Isis.

He used the opportunity to criticise Russia’s actions in Ukraine describing them as “challenging this post-war order”.

“This is a vision of the world in which might makes right – a world in which one nation’s borders can be redrawn by another, and civilized people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because of the truth that might be revealed. America stands for something different.

“We believe that right makes might – that bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones; that people should be able to choose their own future,” Obama said.

The US President was scheduled to convene a security meeting to discuss ways to counter terrorists groups.