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page is background information, last updated in May
2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on
the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special
Session index.
The World's Goals for Children
1990-2000
World leaders meeting at the 1990 World Summit for Children
established 27 specific goals related to children's survival,
health, nutrition, education and protection. The goals were
to be met by the year 2000.
In May 2002, world leaders will convene at the United Nations
General Assembly Special Session on Children to review the
progress in meeting the goals and to agree on new goals for
the next decade.
The record summarized here is a mix of notable successes
(6 goals), some progress (12 goals) and no progress at all
(3 goals). There is limited or inconclusive data on the remaining
6 goals.
More extensive reporting and discussions are found in the
source document, the September 2001 report of the UN Secretary-General,
entitled We The Children, and
A Statistical Review of Progress
Since the World Summit for Children.
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HIV/AIDS
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The plan of action adopted by the World Summit for
Children foresaw that HIV/AIDS might offset gains made
in child survival, protection and development. But few
people in 1990 could imagine the magnitude of the pandemic’s
effects. Many of the achievements in social and human
development of the last half of the 20th century are
now at risk. In some regions, such as sub Saharan Africa,
they are already being undone. A few countries openly
and bravely confronted the pandemic in the 1990s and
have seen encouraging results, but elsewhere, public
initiatives were delayed for years.
Children and young adults have been among the main
victims of this neglect. Children face various threats
from HIV/AIDS including being infected by the virus,
being affected by the consequences to their families
and communities and being orphaned when their parent(s)
die from the AIDS. Almost one half of new infections
are occurring among young people.
Going forward, the battle against HIV/AIDS will be
a major factor in progress made for children
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I. Notable successes
- Polio:
global eradication by 2000 [view data]
- Neonatal
tetanus: elimination by 1995 [view data]
- Deaths
due to diarrhoea: 50 per cent reduction [view data]
- Vitamin
A deficiency: virtual elimination by the year 2000 [view data]
- Iodine
deficiency disorders (IDD): virtual elimination [view data]
- Elimination
of guinea-worm disease (dracunculiasis) by 2000 [view data]
II. Some progress
- Infant
and under-5 mortality (U5MR): reduction by one third in
infant mortality and U5MR [view data]
- Measles:
reduction by 95 per cent in measles deaths and 90 per cent
of measles cases by 1995 as a major step to global eradication
in the longer run [view data]
- Malnutrition:
reduction of severe and moderate malnutrition among under-five
children by half [view data]
- Breastfeeding:
empowerment of all women to breastfeed their children exclusively
for four to six months and to continue breastfeeding, with
complementary food, well into the second year of life [view data]
- Low
birth-weight: reduction of the rate of low birth-weight
(2.5 kilograms or less) to less than 10 per cent [view data]
- Family
planning: access by all couples to information and services
to prevent pregnancies that are too early, too closely spaced,
too late or too numerous [view data]
- Childbirth
care: access by all pregnant women to prenatal care [view data]
- Water:
universal access to safe drinking water [view data]
- Universal
access to basic education: achievement of primary education
by at least 80% of primary school-age children [view data]
- Universal
access to education with an emphasis on primary education
for girls and literacy training for women [view data]
- Early
childhood development (ECD): expansion of ECD activities,
including appropriate low-cost family and community-based
interventions [view data]
- Improve
protection of children in extremely difficult circumstances
(EDC) [view data]
III. No progress
- Routine
immunisation: maintenance of a high level of immunisation
coverage [view data]
- Maternal
mortality: reduction of the rate by half [view data]
- Anaemia:
reduction of iron deficiency anaemia in women by one-third [view data]
IV. Limited data
- Special
attention to the health and nutrition of the female child
and to pregnant and lactating women [view data]
- Childbirth
care: access by all pregnant women to referral facilities
for high-risk pregnancies and obstetric emergencies [view data]
- Growth
monitoring: growth promotion and regular growth monitoring
among children to be institutionalised in all countries
by the end of the 1990s [view data]
- Household
food security: dissemination of knowledge and supporting
services to increase food production [view data]
- Acute
respiratory infections (ARI): reduction of ARI deaths by
one third in children under five [view data]
- Knowledge
skills and values required for better living: increased
acquisition by individuals and families of knowledge, skills
and values for better living, using all educational channels [view data]
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