Children Deserve a Chance

"It's deeply troubling that despite widespread concern about the lack of sustainable development in numerous countries, government leaders, policy makers and development agents seem blinded to one investment opportunity with almost guaranteed returns -- ensuring children a good start to life. Whether it is ignorance, apathy or deliberate neglect, many have failed to grasp certain essential facts about human development, choosing instead to squander their countries' human potential, their peoples' collective trust and hope, and their children's future.

"Wasteful policies, avoidable wars and outright theft of national resources take precedence over the compelling need for health, education, food, water and sanitation for their citizens, especially the very young. By neglecting or stealing from children now, leaders plunder their countries' future and entrench vice and poverty. These leaders and other development agents should know what has been confirmed by a growing body of knowledge -- that the most critical period of a child's development is the very early years, when brain connections multiply and the motor that will fire the child's thinking and behavior patterns for the rest of his life is formed. . . .

"Early childhood development is the central theme of UNICEF's annual flagship publication, 'The State of the World Children 2001.' This year's edition . . . argues that ensuring a child's rights is a process that must begin very early, even before the child is born. . . . Such investment should be community based and owned: each family needs support and resources to help its infants develop. . . . We encourage you to read it and related material found throughout our Web-site. And when you hear about a new plan for breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and despair that ensnares so many people around the world, ask yourself if it focuses on the very young. For investment in them is an investment for us all."

• Nearly 11 million children die every year from preventable diseases

• 170 million children are malnourished

• One-third of births are not registered

• One in five children in developing countries do not attend primary school

• 20 million children became refugees in 1999

• More than 10 million children under 15 have lost their mother to AIDS."

The author is executive director of UNICEF, whose Web address is www.unicef.org.

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