Children are our future
The significant drop in the
world's child mortality rate as reported on our front page
yesterday may give cause for cheer among the various funding
agencies and other world bodies dealing with the subject of
children.
For the first time in modern history the number of children
dying before the age of five had fallen below 10 million per
year. The survey conducted by UNICEF shows that child deaths had
reached an all time low of 9.76 million, down from almost 13
million in 1990.
It is also hoped that the trend would add momentum to the
Millennium Development Goals adopted by world leaders in 2000
for a two thirds reduction of the 13 million under five child
deaths recorded in 1990.
While we can all rejoice on the drop in the infant mortality
rate can the world be happy with the overall fate of the world's
child population who survive? Is there a proper mechanism in
place to ensure the safety, protection, and the advancement of
the child in an increasingly volatile world wracked with violent
upheavals and mass displacements?
How can a child expect to reach its full potential under such
an environment?
Can the world merely sit by and be happy with the reduction
in the child mortality rate alone when there are other deadly
prospects confronting the child population in Third World
countries such as war and the scourge of child slavery not to
mention AIDS.
True, world bodies such the UN have done much towards the
welfare and emancipation of children under its mandate but as
events show our children still continue be the victims of war
and poverty. They are being exploited and forced into slavery.
Children are sold to prostitution and driven to other vices
out of poverty. Ironically the very survival of children that
will add to the burgeoning child population of the world can
only exacerbate the existing problems affecting the child.
The survey does not mention the countries where the drop in
child mortality is most manifest. Certainly, developed countries
may not have figured in the UNICEF study which may have made the
disparity more pronounced.
While many factors such as the advances in medical science,
improved welfare and increased overseas funded projects may have
contributed to the drop in child mortality one has to admit that
the world has to go a long way in totally addressing issues
confronting the global child population.
The UNICEF Executive Director while calling the figures
historic has stressed that much work needs to be done.
Obviously, the loss of 9.7 million lives each year is
unacceptable. The evolution of the world into the modern era has
wrought virtual 'miracles' in many spheres and today many
countries which were backward in health indicators too have
marched forward providing a high quality of life to their
citizens.
Sri Lanka too figures under this category going by the
various welfare measures that have been introduced particularly
with regard to maternity and child care.
It would be appropriate here to mention that Millennium
Development Goals in respect of child mortality could be better
achieved by an equitable distribution of wealth by the rich
nations among the poorer countries. There is an immediate need
to take cognisance of the larger picture.
For, a mere drop in child mortality is not the ideal index to
measure the development and advancement of the child.
Even if one could be happy with the drop in child mortality
there is an immediate need to keep the world a safer place for
our child population above anything else. Today war has caused
killing and maiming of thousands of children as one would often
come across in gruesome scenes on television.
There is also the issues of child labour in countries such as
Brazil where children as young as six years are forced to work
in coal mines. One can hardly harp on child mortality reduction
in the face of growing malnutrition and deformed children in
some African countries.
Reducing child mortality by itself will not guarantee the
future of the surviving children.
What is needed is Social Responsibility on the part of the
rich nations to address the plight of the teeming millions of
children in the world who face starvation, lack of education and
basic necessities. |