1,000 days until the end of 2015 to ensure every child, everywhere can share the world’s development
Yangon, Myanmar, 4 April 2013: Friday 5 April marks 1,000 days until the deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This is a timely moment to highlight the importance of equity for children and reinforce the call for continued engagement on issues affecting the most vulnerable and marginalised children.
UNICEF and partners are proud of the progress to date. The results that we have achieved together mean that more children than ever before are surviving, thriving and exploring their dreams. Those results also reinforce the belief that change is possible. And, at a time when discussions on the post 2015 agenda are picking up pace, it is important to maintain that momentum for children everywhere.
In the year 2000, world leaders gathered at the United Nations and set out eight concrete goals. They agreed to cut global poverty and hunger by half, to achieve universal primary education for boys and girls, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development.
The goals have helped set global and national priorities, mobilize action and achieve remarkable results. Despite remarkable achievement, large numbers of children and their families continue to be left out because of inequality, discrimination, violence and conflict. These issues must be addressed in order to eradicate poverty and ensure the rights of children.
Poverty is passed on from one generation to the next. Since the foundation of an individual’s health and well-being is laid in childhood, the most opportune time to break the cycle of poverty, or prevent it from beginning, is by caring in the childhood.
During these 1,000 days much can be achieved if governments, civil society, the private sector and the international community accelerate action to end the disparities that leave children out and work together to ensure every last child has the opportunity to survive and thrive.
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information about UNICEF Myanmar and its work visit: www.unicef.org/myanmar
For more information, please contact:
Zafrin Chowdhury, Chief, Programme Communication and Information Section, UNICEF Myanmar, Tel: +95-1-375527-32, zchowdhury@unicef.org
Sandar Linn, Communication Officer, Programme Communication and Information Section, UNICEF Myanmar, Tel: +95-1-375527-32, slinn@unicef.org
Ye Lwin Oo, Communication Officer, Programme Communication and Information Section, UNICEF Myanmar, Tel: +95-1-375527-32, ylwinoo@unicef.org