Patience Abeck
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)– At least 280 million children have a better chance to grow up healthy, educated and protected than at any time in the past two decades, a new report by Save the Children has found.
The annual report which evaluates 176 countries on children’s access to health care, education, nutrition and protection from harmful practices like child labour and child marriage touts Malawi to have registered a 68% decline in child deaths over the period.
Save the Children’s 2019 Global Childhood Report entitled- Changing Lives in our Lifetime, shows that countries, including Malawi, have made remarkable progress in protecting childhoods due to strong political will, social investments, and the success of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In Malawi the child age amendment harmonising the recognition of the age of childhood across government departments, The National Children’s Commission Bill, and the launch of the National Social Welfare Policy and Adolescent Girls and Young Women Policy are some of the commitments made by the Government of Malawi towards ensuring a better life and future for the children of Malawi.
In the year 2000, an estimated 970 million children were robbed of their childhoods due to ‘childhood enders’ which are life-changing events like child marriage, early pregnancy, exclusion from education, sickness, malnutrition and violent deaths.
That number has been now been reduced to 690 million – meaning that at least 280 million children are better off today than they would have been two decades ago.
Launched ahead of International Children’s Day on June 1st, Save the Children’s Global Childhood Report includes the annual End of Childhood Index, which finds that circumstances for children have generally improved in 173 out of 176 countries since 2000.
This means today there are:
- 4.4 million fewer child deaths per year
- 49 million fewer stunted children
- 130 million more children in school
- 94 million fewer child labourers
- 11 million fewer girls forced into marriage or married early
- 3 million fewer teen births per year
- 12,000 fewer child homicides per year
Of the eight ‘childhood enders’ examined in the report, displacement due to conflict is the only one on the rise, with 30.5 million more forcibly displaced people now than there were in 2000, an 80 percent increase.
Save the Children Malawi Country Director Kim Koch said; “A hundred years ago, following one of the most destructive wars in human history, Save the Children’s founder Eglantyne Jebb drafted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
“Today children are healthier, wealthier and better educated than ever before. While progress has been remarkable, millions of children continue to be robbed of their childhood. We now need to push to reach every last child and ensure they experience the childhood they deserve.”
Kim noted that the Malawi Government can and must do more to give every child the best possible start in life.
Save The Children calls
Greater investment and more focus is needed if we are to see every child enjoy a safe, healthy and happy childhood.
As Save the Children commemorates 100 years of service to children across the globe and 36 years in Malawi, we recommit our dedication to saving children regardless of who they are or where they are.
“We call upon government and stakeholders to invest in children by ensuring that all children have access to quality basic services, including education, protection and health services. Policy makers must ensure these resources reach excluded children in keeping with the focus on public investment in children outlined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We urge all stakeholders to take action to ensure all children are treated equally. This includes ending discriminatory policies, norms and behaviors such as preventing girls from accessing health services or denying education to a child because of their ethnicity or gender.
We call for the harmonization of all child related laws and instruments in all legal documents to ensure children are well represented in all areas that affect their lives
Save the Children remains committed to working with the Government of Malawi and other key stakeholders to realize children’s rights, to ensure that they survive, learn and are protected.
We must reach the children who are being left till last-and make them first.
