Before starting to answer any of these questions, Salil Shetty asks to take ‘a step back’ to consider the difference between the MDGs and the targets that came out of the big UN conferences of the 1990s, which were ‘not so measurable and time-bound’. A succession of conferences produced many declarations, he says, ‘but not enough follow-through’. The Millennium Summit in 2000 was different, leading to the Millennium Declaration and formulation of specific implementation and monitoring goals – the MDGs. Annual reports are to be published for each country saying how they’re doing in relation to each Goal.