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2001/09 UN Session on Children
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BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND SHEET – September 2001
A World Fit for Children – plugging the gaps
These tables show what has been achieved and what still needs to be done against the child health and nutrition goals of the World Summit for Children 1990 (WSC).
Sorry! The tables referred to cannot easily be copied to this site.
They are taken from "We the Children. End-decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children. Report of the UN Secretary-General", which can be downloaded from http://www.unicef.org/specialsession/documentation/documents/a-s-27-3e.pdf . The tables are on page 28.
ACTION SHEET
ACTION SHEET – September 2001
A World Fit for Children – plugging the gaps
“It is children whose individual development and social contribution will shape the world’s future – and it is through children that entrenched cycles of poverty, exclusion, intolerance and discrimination can be broken for succeeding generations”. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in We the Children, 2001
A world fit for children is a world full of opportunity and potential for the future peaceful development of the world’s people. The World Summit for Children in 1990 was the first international summit to both focus on the needs of children, and see children as key to development. Since then RESULTS internationally has lobbied governments and the media to play their part in meeting the Summit’s goals. The end of this month sees the follow up summit – the UN Special Session on Children – where outcomes will be reviewed and fresh pledges made.
This month we will use the media to publicise the need to plug the gaps in meeting vital child health goals set in 1990. There are clear interventions that need to be put in place to achieve the goals. This action sheet focuses on two simple and highly effective interventions – salt iodisation and measles vaccination – where complete coverage (provision) is tantalisingly close compared to 1990 levels.
ACTION
1. Write a letter to a newspaper or magazine, or speak to a journalist about the Special Session on Children.
2. Point out that it will review progress to child health goals agreed in 1990 and make new pledges.
3. Mention some of the gaps that need to be plugged – for example on salt iodisation and measles vaccination.
4. Speak about the consequences for children (learning disabilities with iodine deficiency, and potential blindness or death from measles) if these gaps remain.
5. Request that governments, media and the public join forces to pursue the goal of a world fit for children.
6. Encourage local groups and newspapers/radio to take up the cause.
A GLOBAL AGENDA FOR CHILDREN
A World Fit for Children is the theme of the UN Special Session on Children. At least 75 Heads of State and Government, together with non- governmental organisations (NGOs), children’s advocates, and children themselves are due to attend the meeting, which will take place on 19-21 September in New York.
The aims of the Special Session are:
1. to review progress made for children in the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children;
2. to renew commitment and pledge for specific actions for the coming decade.
The Special Session is expected to produce a global agenda with a set of goals and a plan of action devoted to ensuring 3 essential outcomes:
1. the best possible start in life for all children;
2. a good quality basic education for all children;
3. the opportunities for all children, especially adolescents, for meaningful participation in their communities.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
One of the outcomes of the World Summit for Children 1990 was consensus on goals to:
* reduce infant, under-five and maternal mortality rates;
* reduce malnutrition in the under-fives.
Sub-goals were also set. The progress that has been made towards achieving goals in the areas of child health and nutrition is shown in the background sheet. It shows significant advances in, for example, the increase in the household use of iodised salt in the developing world from 20% to 72%, and a reduction of measles incidence of nearly two-thirds.
However the tables also show that there is a lot of ‘unfinished business’ across all areas of health and nutrition.
PREVENTING MENTAL DISABILITIES
There are still 37 countries where less than half the households consume iodised salt. This puts them at increased risk of iodine deficiency, which is the leading cause of mental retardation. At its extreme, iodine deficiency causes cretinism – a mental and physical condition.
Salt iodisation is simple and effective; experience in some very poor areas of Latin America shows that universal salt iodisation is also feasible given political will and partnerships. What is needed initially is the full co-operation of the salt industry in ensuring that all salt is iodised and helping to create a demand for iodised salt. In addition, salt iodisation and people's iodine status must be monitored. Governments, salt producers and other interest groups must work together to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders.
MEASLES – STILL A MAJOR KILLER
Measles is still one of the five main killers of children under five. There are over 30 million cases every year and whilst these are not all fatal, they may cause blindness, malnutrition, deafness or pneumonia.
Vaccination reduces the incidence of measles cost-effectively. Measles is highly contagious and vaccination coverage levels must reach over 90% to stop transmission of the virus.
Factors stopping full vaccination coverage include:
* insufficient resources in some countries
* health sector reforms which have not protected the financing of immunisation services
* inability of some health systems to reach very poor and remote families
* conflicts
All countries must be enabled to develop strong systems for childhood immunisation to ensure measles is eradicated and the loss of life and ability halted.
A NEW ERA FOR CHILDREN
UNICEF hopes that the Special Session will mark the start of a new era for children – one in which government leaders accept their responsibilities to children, and one in which advocacy and activism for children will become the responsibility and work of every citizen.
Great achievements have been made in the last 11 years and it is frustrating that so much is incomplete, leaving many children, particularly those in the poorest and most unstable countries, vulnerable to a lifetime of disability, and communities with a generation’s worth of unfulfilled potential. We must all play our part in creating a new era for children.
RESULTS Education, 13 Dormer Place, Leamington Spa, CV32 5AA.
This action sheet uses material from UNICEF and the World Health Organisation.
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