UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to world leaders not to divert aid from the poor to shore up their own economies.
'We should not balance budgets on the backs of the poor,' Mr Ban told 140 leaders at the opening of a three-day summit to review the UN-agreed Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
'We must not draw back from official development assistance - a lifeline of billions for billions,' he said.
The UN agrees the world is likely to halve poverty and hunger by 2015 but is behind in meeting the other goals of the initiative, which range from child education and gender equality to environmental sustainability.
The global financial and economic crisis has complicated efforts to reduce poverty and hunger in the world's poorest countries as donors face growing budget pressures and battle unemployment at home.
With rich nations already behind on their aid pledges, donors are keen to see new strategies that ensure aid does not go to wasteful programmes that have little impact on the poor.
British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell called for a plan that will track progress in meeting the poverty goals over the remaining five years of the Millennium Development Goals initiative, which started ten years ago.
Mr Mitchell said Britain wanted more transparency, coordination and a special focus on helping pregnant women and their newborns.
US Agency for International Development chief Rajiv Shah said the US would press for new strategies that highlight economic growth, accountability and tackling corruption.
Mr Shah said US President Barack Obama's administration was committed to boosting the US aid budget to $52bn from about $25bn.
Mr Obama is due to address the summit on Wednesday. Also taking part are French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned leaders that the world will fail to meet commitments under the Millennium Development Goals unless both rich and poor countries implement policies that restore global growth.
He urged advanced economies to stick to 2005 pledges to increase aid to Africa and to increase trade with poor countries that would not burden their budgets.
Speaking at the start of the summit, Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said urgent action was needed if the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 is to be achieved.
