A/RES/60/209 31. Further reaffirms that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development; 32. Emphasizes the critical role of both formal and non-formal education, in particular basic education and training, especially for girls, in empowering those living in poverty, reaffirms in that context the Dakar Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum, 14 and recognizes the importance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization strategy for the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty, in supporting the Education for All programmes as a tool with which to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on universal primary education by 2015; 33. Recognizes the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious and contagious diseases on human development, economic growth, food security and poverty reduction efforts in all regions, in particular subSaharan Africa, and urges Governments and the international community to give urgent priority to combating those diseases; 34. Also recognizes that armed conflict results in the loss of human lives and the destruction of economic resources, and that countries emerging from conflict are faced with damaged physical and social infrastructure, scarce employment opportunities, reduced foreign investment and increased capital flight, and, in this regard, stresses that strategies, programmes and international assistance for reconstruction and rehabilitation should, inter alia, create employment and eradicate poverty; 35. Emphasizes the link between poverty eradication and improving access to safe drinking water, and stresses in that regard the objective to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation, as reaffirmed in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation; 36. Recognizes that the lack of adequate housing remains a pressing challenge in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty, particularly in the urban areas in developing countries, expresses its concern at the rapid growth in the number of slum-dwellers in the urban areas of developing countries, particularly in Africa, stresses that, unless urgent and effective measures and actions are taken at the national and international levels, the number of slum-dwellers, who constitute one third of the world’s urban population, will continue to increase, and emphasizes the need for increased efforts, with a view to significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020; 37. Also recognizes that the eradication of rural poverty and hunger is crucial for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and that rural development should be an integral part of national and international development policies; 38. Further recognizes that access to microcredit and microfinance can contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the goals relating to poverty eradication, gender equality and the empowerment of women; _______________ 14 See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Final Report of the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, 26–28 April 2000 (Paris, 2000). 8