In 1000 days from now, the Millennium Development Goals will run out. When world leaders set these eight big challenges back in 2000, there was a huge amount of work to do. Halving extreme poverty, giving every child an education, and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS were just a few of the targets. But these aren’t just numbers, they are milions of people’s lives, potentially changed forever.

Thirteen years on and just 1000 days from the finish line, a lot has changed. Amazingly, we halved extreme poverty by 2010 – a whole five years early. 65 countries are on track to make sure girls have equal access to education. Eight million people now receive lifesaving AIDS treatments compared with just 300,000 in 2002.

There is a lot of good news, but also some bad. 26 countries are projected to hit either zero or just one of the targets, including Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over 100 countries are not on track to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters.

So should we accept defeat? Or is there still time to turn things around?

Rewind 1000 days from today, and it’s hard to believe we lived in a world where:

A lot can change in 1000 days. Let’s get on with it.

Find out how the Millennium Development Goals are progressing, and how we really could change the world in 1000 days in our new briefing.

And join us today on Twitter for a live chat with ONE’s Policy Director Ben Leo at 11am EDT / 3pm GMT.