UN SUMMIT REACTION
Welcoming the outcome of the UN summit, Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children said:
Thursday 25 September 2008
“A week ago the drive to cut world poverty was flat lining. Today this campaign has had a critical injection of new life.
“The cynics expected this summit to fail. With the world economy in freefall, even optimists feared the worst. But today has seen real steps forward and we have seen a glimpse of what the world can do when it finds its collective will to act.
“The economic crisis has cast a dark shadow over this summit. But that crisis shows that when the world wants to act, it can. Politicians promised $700 billion in a week to save Wall Street. Never again can they argue that they can’t afford the $5 billion needed to save six million children’s lives.
“Today has given us reason to believe. Tomorrow we will expect action. World leaders must follow through on the promises they made here to cut poverty, save children’s lives and get millions more into school. A worldwide movement of people will not let them forget.
Save the Children identified three aspects of the summit outcomes as especially significant:
- the launch of a plan to recruit and equip more health workers. A health worker in every community is the best guarantee of a child’s survival. This plan must deliver on that ambition and ensure health workers are the front line of a sustainable health system that is equipped for the task.
- The pledge to wipe out malaria by 2015. Malaria kills around a million children under five every year. It is the youngest, who have not built up immune systems, who are most vulnerable. This new pledge must be backed with realistic measures to achieve it.
- New commitments on education. We must now ensure that these commitments are used to fully fund existing plans and must shift special attention to the 37 million children out of school in countries affected by conflict.
-ENDS-
CONMTACT DOMINIC NUTT - +44 (0)7720 467680
