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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.
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Press Kit
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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