The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were established in 2000 to coordinate poverty alleviation efforts to end extreme poverty across the world by 2015. The eight goals, which include halving extreme poverty and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, have galvanized extraordinary support and resources.With just a year and a half left until the MDG target date of 2015, ONE’s DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade and Africa) advocacy organization released a report “Financing the Fight for Africa’s Transformation” in May 2013 to take stock of progress made against the eight MDGs to end extreme poverty in Africa. Overall progress on the MDGs among African countries is strong, with 49 countries making significant strides since their previous evaluation in 2010.There is much to celebrate, as the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined from 43% of the world’s population in 1990 to 21% in 2010. Child deaths have decreased by 2.7 million, down from 9.6 million per year, and deaths resulting from malaria have declined by more than a quarter. These results are remarkable as millions of lives are being saved and people are given the opportunity to rise out of extreme poverty.However, the DATA report’s analysis also reveals that growth across Africa is uneven and, often, does not correspond to a country’s overall economic growth. Kenya is unfortunately one of 14 African nations lagging behind in MDG achievement, with a lower progress score on the MDG Index now compared to 2010.There is just one MDG for which Kenya received the highest favorable progress score, and that is the goal to achieve universal primary education. The progress made in enabling all boys and girls to complete a full course of primary school is extremely commendable but also begs the question, how has Kenya achieved so much in education but not toward the other MDGs?In 2000, Kenya joined 163 other countries in signing the Dakar Framework for Action, which committed governments to ensuring that at least 7% of their GDPs are allocated to education within five years and 9% within ten years. While only one sub-Saharan African country (Lesotho) has met these expenditures, Kenya is over 80% of the way to meeting its Dakar education commitment.Following the Dakar commitment, Kenya adopted a Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in 2003 that abolished fees to attend public primary school and made school attendance compulsory for children between the ages of six and thirteen. As a result, primary school enrollment has substantially increased, particularly for poor children.While Kenya has taken significant strides by making primary education free and compulsory, with government expenditures nearing those outlined in the Dakar Framework for Action, many poor families still cannot keep their children in primary school for a host of reasons that all stem from abject poverty.Chronically ill family members require care from children. Families cannot afford books, school uniforms and the costs of transportation. Children are unattended as parents/guardians toil to earn well less than $2 a day or are lost in addiction, leaving children vulnerable to gang recruitment and prostitution. Children develop protracted illnesses as a result of inadequate healthcare, fall behind in school and eventually drop out.For those who are able to attend school, the reality is often exceptionally large class sizes with inadequate latrines, food and water. UNICEF reports that as many as 300 children share one toilet in some Kenyan public schools. There are certainly improvements to be made in the quality of public education, especially in the poorest areas of Kenya.The gains made in achieving universal primary education in Kenya are highly applaudable and, as the DATA report shows, directly linked to government prioritization and expenditure. This is certainly cause for celebration. However, for the poorest of the poor children in Kenya, many who reside in slums including Mathare, education spending alone will not ensure that they are able to complete primary school. The root causes of poverty must be simultaneously and holistically addressed to ensure that children are able to exercise their right to go to school and stay in school.Kenya's lowest progress scores are for those MDGs related to halving extreme poverty and hunger, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and eliminating gender disparity in education. To truly achieve universal primary education, these critical sectors, which collectively represent the root causes of abject poverty, must be prioritized.