When 1+1 is more than 2

Poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS are not the only factors which undermine childhood but they are certainly among the most significant, with profoundly damaging effects on a child’s chances of survival after the early years of life. The damage caused by these threats lingers well beyond the years of childhood, and increases the likelihood that the next generation of children will be affected by the same threat. As damaging as these three major threats are by themselves, when two or even all three coincide the impact on children’s lives is devastating.

The vision of childhood that unites countries and peoples is at odds with the one that most children in the world actually experience. Into this gap between ideal and reality, between Convention and convention, more young lives plunge with every passing day. And with each child that falls into this chasm, a little more of the world’s shared future is compromised.