Save the Children Calls on Global Leaders to Step Up Action to Improve Children’s Access to Health and Education

(New York, 25 September) While noting advancements made since 2000 in saving young lives and educating children in developing countries, Save the Children today is calling on global leaders participating in the United Nations World Summit to accelerate the pace of action to reach millions of children still dying needlessly and millions more still missing out on school due to lack of resources.

Save the Children recommends three steps that global leaders should take to get the world back on track toward meeting health and education goals by 2015, including increasing resources for education in fragile states; designing health care programs to better target the poorest and most marginalized mothers and children; and establishing policies that prioritize education in humanitarian emergencies.

“Millions more children are alive today and millions more are in school because of the global commitments made in 2000 to provide a more prosperous and just world for children. But millions of the world’s poorest, marginalized children have not yet benefitted from these goals. Progress is being made, but we are not on track,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary General of the International Save the Children Alliance.

“The goals are ambitious but attainable,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka. “Save the Children is calling on global leaders to accelerate the pace of action to improve children’s health and education to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The lives and future of millions of children depend on it.”

Global leaders have gathered this week in New York City for two landmark events to review development issues that significantly affect children’s lives. At the U.N. High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, leaders are reviewing progress on a set of eight commitments made by 189 nations in 2000 to reduce the impact of extreme poverty by 2015. Across town at the Clinton Global Initiative, business leaders and political representatives are addressing solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, including global health and education.

Recommendations for Achieving Millennium Development Goals on Education and Child Survival

In his remarks later today before the U.N. Education and Health Roundtable, Save the Children USA President and CEO Charles MacCormack will review progress toward the Millennium Development Goal on education, which seeks to guarantee that all girls and boys complete eight years of schooling. He will recognize that 41 million more children are in school since the goal’s inception, but more than 72 million children can only dream of getting an education, especially children living in conflict-affected areas.

“Conflict-affected countries are home to half of the children not in school today. Some may say that it’s not possible to educate children under these difficult circumstances. But our on-the-ground experience proves otherwise,” said MacCormack. “In countries embroiled in conflict like Afghanistan, Darfur and northern Uganda, children are getting a chance to rewrite their future by going to school. Save the Children urges the global community to renew its commitment to educating children and direct more resources toward helping children in fragile states get an education.”

On the Millennium Development Goal on child mortality, which seeks to reduce the number of children under 5 who die each year, MacCormack will highlight new encouraging data released by UNICEF that shows a 27 percent decline in under-5 mortality over the past two decades. The number of under-5 deaths has declined to more than 9 million in 2007 from nearly 13 million in 1990.

Save the Children is outlining three approaches that the global community should take to ensure these babies and toddlers survive to age 5: design health care programs to better target the poorest and most marginalized mothers and children; deliver a package of maternal, newborn and child health care through a continuum that links communities, local health facilities and hospitals; and increase government support for proven solutions that address the biggest killers of young children.

New Partnerships Formed to Save Young Lives

At this week’s global events, Save the Children will announce two initiatives aimed at saving more young lives and helping countries get on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality.

Save the Children has joined with Malaria No More and Sesame Street to tackle malaria, one of Africa’s leading killers of young children. Through the partnership, Save the Children will help educate families on how to prevent and treat the illness through practices like the proper use of an insecticide-treated bed net. The project will initially target communities in Zambia and Tanzania, in sub-Saharan Africa.

During the three-day conference hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative, Save the Children will announce a new initiative with Johns Hopkins University and PATH to design and distribute the latest newborn care advice and a kit – called a Better Beginning for Babies Kit – to pregnant women and new moms to help save newborn lives globally.

The kit will contain items to improve hygiene at delivery and promote proper care of newborns, and will be paired with health worker counseling to new moms on issues like exclusive breastfeeding. The kit contents will vary by country, and may contain items such as a bar of soap, a clean blade to cut the umbilical cord, and a knit cap to keep a baby warm.

The program will be rolled out to seven countries in Africa and Asia over five years. The proposed countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mali and Mozambique.

More on Save the Children's Call to Action

Voices

Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children UK President and CEO writes from the MDG meeting for The Daily Telegraph
Adrian Lovett, Director of Campaigns and Communications, Save the Children UK, has written a blog from MDG meeting in New York for The Independent

Press releases

A Renewed Sense of Commitment; Aid Agency Says It is Time to Assert the Rights of the World's Children (26 September 2008)
Hundreds of writers worldwide take a stand to demand education for all children (22 September 2008)