About the Special Session

Mid-decade review

One of the distinctive features of the World Summit for Children was the enormous effort made to ensure regular, high-quality reporting on progress. The Declaration and Plan of Action have been monitored more closely and in greater detail than any comparable set of international commitments, with national, regional and global processes established to track the follow-up on commitments.

Review processes

The Secretary-General submitted reports to the 45th, 51st and 53rd sessions of the General Assembly on progress in the implementation of the World Summit Declaration and Plan of Action, while UNICEF submitted annual reports on global progress to its Executive Board. Key issues and trends, including areas requiring increased attention, have been highlighted in UNICEF flagship publications, The Progress of Nations and The State of the World's Children.

A mid-decade review, held in 1995, focused on a set of interim goals established through wide consultative processes. These mid-decade goals set out the minimum levels of achievement needed as stepping stones to the goals for the year 2000 and set out specific areas critical to the survival and development of children: protection against vaccine-preventable diseases, treatment when sick with diarrhoea, breastfeeding and good nutrition, protection against the disorders of iodine and vitamin A deficiency, and access to basic education and to water and sanitation facilities.

In order to fill data gaps on indicators of progress towards the goals, an inexpensive and easily-applied Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey methodology was developed. One hundred countries collected data using the MICS and Demographic and Health Surveys, or through the use of MICS questionnaire modules in other household surveys. In September 1996, on the sixth anniversary of the World Summit, the results of the mid-decade review were presented in a report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly (A/51/256).

The mid-decade review showed significant progress in most countries in immunization, the control of diarrhoeal diseases, poliomyelitis, dracunculiasis and IDDs, and access to safe water. Concern, however, was expressed over the considerable variations in achievements across countries and regions. Of particular concern was the fact that overall progress in malnutrition, maternal mortality, sanitation, and girls' education had often been weak. Governments, donors, United Nations agencies and other members of the international community were called upon to accelerate implementation of the World Summit Declaration and Plan of Action, particularly in the areas where the least progress had been made.

(Source: Paragraphs 470-474, We the Children: End-decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children. Report of the Secretary-General.)