UNICEF urges leaders to focus on child development

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday called on African leaders attending an economic summit in South Africa to embrace "child-centred standards as the primary measure for gauging progress" across their continent. Arguing that no single measure of development predicts the future as reliably as the well-being of a nation's youngest citizens, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy urged African nations to focus their limited resources on investments in health, education, equality and protection for children. "We all agree that in order to sustain human progress, a government must invest in its children," Bellamy told leaders attending the Africa Economic Summit in Durban. "Doing so is both a moral and an economic imperative. Thus the well-being of your children should become the most important standard for measuring your individual achievement as leaders." Bellamy expressed support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) proposal of an annual system of "peer review." She said UNICEF and other UN agencies stood ready to assist by providing the uniform statistical data needed to measure the progress of nations. She offered UNICEF's annual "Progress of Nations" report as a template for the peer review and country comparisons being considered under NEPAD. It uses indicators such as child survival, child nutrition, and primary education attainment levels to measure the relative "progress" of nations. UNICEF pointed out that African countries currently in a similar per capita income range of US $260 to US $300, nonetheless register wide variations in child mortality rates (ranging from 75 deaths per 1,000 live births to 202 per 1,000); the percentage of schoolchildren reaching grade five (ranging from 24 percent to 84 percent); and in the percentage of under-fives who are malnourished (from 16 percent to 33 percent). Bellamy observed that countries in this income range sometimes score better on one child-related indicator but less well on another. "But real progress depends not on one or two child indicators alone, but on steady progress across the whole range of child well-being," she said. "That's what African nations should be striving toward; that is the only road to economic development." Bellamy laid out some fast-track activities she said were essential for African progress. They included completing the eradication of polio and guinea worm disease; increasing the reach of basic immunisation programmes; rolling back malaria, with particular emphasis on the massive roll-out of insecticide-treated bed nets; combating micronutrient deficiencies such as anaemia, iodine and vitamin A deficiencies through food fortification and supplementation; expansion of safe drinking water and sanitation services, including ensuring that every school in Africa has separate latrines for girls and boys; realisation of the right of orphans and other vulnerable children to a decent standard of living, health care, schooling and protection from exploitation. "These may seem like daunting challenges," Bellamy said. "But each of them is being tackled effectively somewhere in Africa right now. The trick is to work together to build a critical mass of progress across the continent. That is why UNICEF is a major supporter of the brilliant NEPAD idea. The hope for Africa lies in good leadership."