This article originally appeared in Nature 555, 7 (2018) . In 2000, the United Nations hosted the largest gathering of political leaders ever held. At that meeting, all 189 UN member states, plus leading development institutions, committed to the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight ambitious goals for lifting more than one billion people worldwide out of extreme poverty. The first goal — to cut extreme poverty and hunger in half by 2015 — was especially important to me, because it was crucial to achieving all the others. It was also controversial: experts thought it was impossible to achieve. But it sparked a global conversation about how to invest in agriculture, nutrition and food systems to ensure a future in which all children get the food they need to thrive, not just to survive. Talk led to action, and action to results. Between 2000 and 2015, nearly every African country improved childhood nutrition, especially in reducing stunted growth caused by malnutrition.

Amid war and devastation in South Sudan came glimmers of hope Wednesday as the world's newest nation announced a milestone step toward eradicating a debilitating disease. South Sudan has gone 15 consecutive months without a single reported case of Guinea worm, a major victory for the country that once had the most cases of  the painful parasite. Riek Gai Kok, South Sudan's heath minister, called it a "massive achievement." "Having known the suffering it inflicts on people, one is very happy today," he said at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Former President Jimmy Carter's organization has led  global efforts in eradicating Guinea worm . Donald Hopkins helped kill smallpox and is close to slaying the fiery serpent "Future generations will read it in the books as part of the history," Gai Kok said. "We have restored dignity to our people." Guinea worm is set to become only the second human disease in history to be