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Chairman,
Secretary-General,
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
A child is born and begins her journey through
life. Her parents live on less than US$ 2 per day. Like other children
in the poor half of our world, there is a one in five chance that she
will be dead before she is five.
She, and millions of others like her, have no
choice. They march into life like soldiers into killing fields.
It is a massacre. Almost 11 million dead each year.
Many more than the numbers who die from all war during the past
decade.
Do we care? Are we prepared to speak out about this
needless waste? We must break the silence. We must confront the
complacency. Deaths of poor children are not "inevitable".
They should not be happening. They are a blot on our collective
conscience.
Heads of State, Ministers and senior officials made
great commitments to change at the World Summit for Children in 1990.
Child mortality in many countries around the world
has fallen over the past 30 years. We have shown the impact of
combating polio, and immunizing children against other childhood
diseases. We have seen the effectiveness of oral re-hydration and
basic hygiene in saving lives.
But the progress over the last decade is nowhere
near good enough. We do not reach the children who are most in
need.
We are failing these children because we do not
transform our knowledge into action for them.
We must do more to bring knowledge and services to
people. We cannot expect them to come to us in search of it.
We need to focus, more, on the most vulnerable
children - the newborns. Many conditions that result in a newborn
dying can easily be prevented or treated. We need a combined approach
to the mother and her baby during her pregnancy, to have someone with
knowledge and skills with her during childbirth, and effective care
for both after birth. This does not call for sophisticated and
expensive technology. It means having functioning health facilities
that can handle complications in the first weeks of life and during
the delivery and post-partum period. A newborn needs a healthy mother.
We need to focus, more, on the 1.2 billion - one
fifth of the global population - who are in their teen years. They
have survived childhood and are rapidly becoming adults. This is when
patterns of behaviour take root and lifestyle choices are made. These
will affect their chances of a long and healthy life. Tobacco, diet
and alcohol choices in the teen years have massive implications: at
least two thirds of premature adult deaths result from behaviours
developed at this time.
HIV/AIDS is - essentially - a disease of children
and young people. The majority of those who are newly infected with
HIV are aged less than 24. Their infection rates are increasing. As I
have been speaking today, fifteen young people were infected with HIV:
that's five a minute.
We can confront this pandemic. We can stop it in
its tracks.
We need to focus, more, on the realities of teenage
lives, rather than on our views about how young people should live. This
applies when we are working with teenagers to reduce pregnancy rates,
HIV infection rates and the incidence of unsafe sex.
It means providing adult support to young people as
they handle the thoughts, feelings and experiences that come with
growing up. Helping them develop skills for developing relationships
and dealing with sexuality provides a foundation for responsible
adulthood. It helps promote good health. It contributes to a health
environment for their children, when they chose to have them.
We need to focus more on the rights of everyone -
young or old - that relate to their own sexuality. They may need
help: we cannot offer what's needed if we shy away from sex matters.
That means having zero tolerance for the use of
violence by those who seek sex. It is an offence against human rights
and can never be excused.
Mr Chairman,
We can point to powerful progress for child health
in the last decade: alliances within which the different parties
forget their differences and pursue agreed goals using common
strategies.
At the Global Consultation on Child and Adolescent
Health and Development in Stockholm in March, we set out the
strategies needed for a new offensive for child health. At the
Monterrey summit later that month, we saw a global commitment to
support the Millennium Development Goals and to provide additional
financial resources to achieve these goals.
We now have the tools and the pledges.
This is good, but it is not enough. We must
work harder to reach and empower poor people and their children -
especially their newborn babies and those who are in their teens. Only
then can we truly say that we are preparing our world for the
generations of the future. Only then will we be seen to confront
inequity and promote social justice. Only then will we create the
foundation for lasting peace.
Thank you.
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