(Change for Children - PDF document)
Introduction
Children, Our Future
It goes without saying that our future as a species depends largely upon proper planning and caring for our offspring. Beyond this cold, hard fact, however, factors which make us human - our morality, our capacity for ‘other,’ our search for meaning - demand that we place special emphasis on and attention to how we take care of those who’s care has been entrusted to us. Our laws, our societal structures and our faith traditions all place a special emphasis on children. Those who follow after Jesus will recall how he often welcomed children and encouraged us to be more like them in innocence and demeanor. He also said that it would be better not to have been born than to cause harm to come to a child. By that measure, the care of children is important indeed! Unfortunately, children as a group remain among the most vulnerable, marginalized and neglected sectors of the human family.
Global “Beatitudes”
An overarching reality that affects our ability to take care of children is the reality of global poverty. In order to combat the effects of poverty and to halve absolute global poverty by 2015, the United Nations has instituted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Singer and Activist Bono was recently quoted as saying that “They (MDGs) are the Beatitudes for a globalized world.” All 191 member states of the United Nations have promised to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. These Goals include measurable, time-bound targets addressing poverty and hunger, education, maternal and child health, the prevalence of diseases including HIV/AIDs and malaria, gender equality, the environment, debt, trade justice and aid. (Micah Challenge)
Global Trends, sub-Saharan Africa Realities
In its “Progress for Children: A Child Survival Report Card - 2004,” UNICEF addressed progress towards the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which aims for a two-thirds reduction of under-five mortality rates between 1990 and 2015. While a number of regions of the world have seen significant gains made toward child survival, the sub-Saharan Africa region is actually going backwards when it comes to the average annual reduction rate of child mortality (AARR). Forty-two percent of the children who die before they are five are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The causes of child mortality are known. More than half of the deaths among children are caused by malnutrition and the lack of safe water and sanitation which cause diarrhea. Vaccines, antibiotics and insecticide-treated mosquito nets are among other simple measures that can prevent widespread death among children already marginalized through conflict and the effects of HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, 174 of every 1000 children die before celebrating their fifth birthday.
“Quick Wins”
As companion to the MDG-based poverty reduction strategy, a number of “quick wins” have been proposed that serve as practical steps toward MDG achievement. Among those that affect children are:
- Providing micro-nutrient (especially zinc and vitamin A) supplementation for pregnant and lactating women and children under five.
- Providing regular annual de-worming to all school children in affected areas to improve health and educational outcomes.
- Distributing free, long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets to all children in malaria-endemic zones to cut decisively the burden of malaria.
- Providing free school meals for all children using locally produced foods with take-home rations.
Eliminating school uniform fees to ensure that all children, especially girls, are not out of school because of their families’ poverty
- Providing access to electricity, water, sanitation for schools and other social service institutions using off-grid diesel generators, solar panels, or other appropriate technologies.
- Providing community-level support to plant trees to provide soil nutrients, fuel wood, shade, fodder, watershed protection, windbreak, and timber.
Click the "Change for Children" link above to learn more about how Africa Exchange is addressing these and other issues though the construction of Integrated Child Development Centers (ICDC) in each province of Kenya.
|
