Keeping the promise: 'tangible progress' reported on children's summit goals.

A special high-level round table on "Keeping the Promise to Children", marking the third anniversary of the historic World Summit for Children, was convened by the UN Secretary-General in New York on 30 September.

Attended by eight Heads of State or Government, 14 Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys and other dignitaries, participants discussed how to improve the lot of the world's children by turning the Summit's promises into action.

At the Summit, more than 70 Heads of State or Government and 88 highlevel delegations from 158 countries adopted a set of goal; for children for the 1990s, contained in the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, and in the accompanying Plan of Action to implement the World Declaration.

Some regional summits had identified mid-decade goals which, if implemented, could save the lives of an additional 2 million children a year by 1996, James P. Grant, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told the seminar. If successful, our sprint towards the mid-decade goals would do more for the well-being of children, in a shorter period of thirties and at lower cost, than any other undertaking in

If the problems of mothers and children are not addressed, social development cannot be achieved", said Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh, Co-Chairman of the round table.

Co-chairman Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, President of Nicaragua, said that the mid-decade goals could be achieved by 1995, including elimination of neo-natal tetanus and of poliomyelitis in selected regions, virtual elimination of vitamin A deficiency, universal iodization of salt, 80 per cent use of oral rehydration therapy, and making all hospitals baby-friendly".

President Chamorro, while presenting a summary of round table discussions, underscored the importance of a funding strategy for implementing the Summit goals known as "20/20 vision": developing countries redirect at least 20 per cent of their budgets to children's basic needs, while industrialized countries earmark 20 per cent of their development assistance for the same purpose.

A 2 September report (A/48/321) of the UN Secretary-General indicated that real, tangible progress was being made for children.

An impressive gain had been made in developing concrete plans to improve the status of children, the report stated. Keeping the Summit's promises had been made easier by two concrete instruments: the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child, and the national programmes of action (NPAS), which the Convention's 151 signatories committed themselves to prepare.

The developing world was making more progress towards achieving the welfare of its people than was generally recognized, according to a 22 September report by UNICEF.

Entitled "Progress of Nations", it is the first of a projected series of annual reports ranking nations according to their achievements for children in health, nutrition and education, as well as their progress in the field of family planning and women's development.

In little more than one generation, average real incomes had doubled, child death rates had been halved, malnutrition rates had been reduced by about 30 per cent and life expectancy had increased by about a third, the report stated. Still, less than an all-out effort" was being made to combat such scourges as malnutrition, disease and illiteracy.

|Mother-friendly' firms honoured

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) honoured 16 United States companies on 5 August for making their workplaces hospitable to mothers who choose to breast-feed their babies after turning to work.

The businesses were selected for providing such support as on-site infant care and breast-feeding breaks. UNICEF reported that businesses which did not support mothers suffered increased absenteeism. The ceremony coincided with World Breast-feeding Week (1-7 August), which was established to promote the "most healthful form of infant nutrition".