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Secretary-General reports big progress for children

Monday, 30 September 1996: United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali today reported significant progress towards meeting the year 2000 goals set by the World Summit for Children exactly six years ago.

Most countries have achieved most of the mid-decade targets adopted later by Governments to build and maintain momentum towards the end-decade goals, according to the review. Over 80 per cent of the world's children are now covered by immunization services and some countries have already reached or surpassed the goal of 90 per cent immunization set for the year 2000.

At the 1990 gathering in New York, leaders from 159 countries had agreed to a set of specific, measurable human development goals that would reduce child and maternal mortality and give every youngster access to basic education, clean water and proper sanitation by the end of the decade.

Oral rehydration therapy is now being used to prevent dehydration and death in the vast majority of diarrhoea episodes in the developing world. Polio and guinea worm disease are on the verge of eradication and several thousand hospitals are now officially recognized as `baby-friendly,' thanks to their efforts to promote and encourage breastfeeding.

Since 1990, iodized salt has reached an additional 1.5 billion people, protecting around 12 million babies each year from iodine deficiency, the leading cause of preventable mental retardation. The world is also on target to providing universal access to safe drinking water by the year 2000.

Above all, there is now a greater recognition of children's rights, reflected in the near-universal ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention has become the most widely and most rapidly accepted human rights treaty in history, ratified by 187 State Parties in just six years.

Three in five countries are now either on track to reaching the overall goal of improved child survival by the year 2000 or are well within striking distance. Mr. Boutros-Ghali presented his report at a special commemorative meeting at the United Nations, where he was joined by UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, representatives from the six countries that initiated the World Summit, and the President of the United Nations General Assembly.

"There can be no doubt that millions of children are alive today because of the extra efforts set in motion since the World Summit for Children," says Carol Bellamy. "In fact, one million fewer children will die this year than in 1990. And thanks to improved health and education, millions more children will have a better chance to break the cycle of poverty and fulfill their potential." She reminded the world, however, that "much remains to be done."

The Secretary-General's report is equally outspoken about the lack of progress on malnutrition and maternal mortality. Despite the commitments made in 1990, there has been little progress in reducing child malnutrition. In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the number of malnourished children is actually rising. Almost a third of all children under five in developing countries are malnourished, and malnutrition still contributes to more than half the deaths of young children in these countries.

The number of women dying from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth remains appallingly high. The estimate of 500,000 maternal deaths each year at the time of the Summit has indeed been revised to nearly 600,000.

The Secretary-General's report also highlights such concerns as the continuing gender gap in basic education and the inability of education services to keep pace with population growth. Of the 100 million children who do not go to school, around 60 million are girls. While there are an estimated 50 million more children enrolled in primary schools today than there were in 1990, this rise in actual numbers is barely keeping pace with increasing population.

Population growth is also outstripping the availability of sanitation services. The number of people without adequate sanitation rose from 2.6 billion people at the time of the Summit to 2.9 billion people in 1994.

Commenting on the findings of the Secretary General's report, Carol Bellamy says: "The Summit was unprecedented in establishing at an international forum a set of specific, essentially quantifiable human development goals and stipulating a deadline for their achievement. It was a brave as well as novel approach; countries could see clearly what they were aiming for and how to get there. And it is working.

"The progress made since the World Summit for Children has been truly remarkable, with whole nations galvanized into action on behalf of their children. With so much already achieved, now is the time to recommit to the goals, to mobilize the very fabric of societies, to put children first."

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