This is the latest in a series of reports for Asia and the Pacific on the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Coming in the midst of the global financial and economic turmoil, it should offer a unique opportunity to redress the information balance – to register the impact on the poor and the implications for the achievement of the Goals. This report supplements trend data with a close analysis of the most recent information and uses this to signal how the crisis is playing out – who is likely to suffer and why.