The world is running out of time to meets its goal of saving the lives of millions of women and children from preventable diseases, a United Nations report warned yesterday.
So-called Millennium Development Goals are meant to be met by 2015.
But, according to an independent report commissioned by the UN, "impressive" improvements in some countries have not been matched globally.
The report highlights some 5.5 million baby deaths a year from diseases such as pneumonia and malaria.
It cites "disappointing evidence" that "fine words" are not being translated into good deeds.
It says death rates of new mothers are not falling as fast as expected – warning of high numbers of unsafe abortions affecting teenaged girls in Africa.
The report calls for strengthened "governance" to bring together initiatives, citing damaging gaps between countries, agencies, health professionals and others.
Its editors include Lancet editor Richard Horton and Professor Marleen Temmerman, professor of Obstetrics-Gynaecology at Ghent University, Belgium.
Critics said the report understated the problem.
Martin Drewry, director of Health Poverty Action, said: "The truth is even worse than this report reveals. The Millennium Development Goals only tell half the story; because they measure national averages they obscure vast inequalities within countries.
"There are many countries which appear to be moving towards achieving the goals, but which have such internal disparity in wealth that in some areas women and children die as frequently as in the poorest nations in the world.
"Because of arbitrary national boundaries, funding to these areas is cut and people die needlessly."
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