Bangkok Post - July 10, 2008
Laurence Gray

The response of the world's richest nations to rising food prices, healthcare and HIV/Aids is of direct importance to the 28% of Asia's population who are children aged under 15. All eyes and ears will be on the closing statement issued by the G8. But it is actually the follow-through that matters most.

In 2005, the G8 announced - after some 200,000 had marched for increased aid and debt relief in host nation Scotland - that annual overseas aid would increase by US$50 billion a year to US$130 billion a year up until 2010. That US$50 billion figure was presented by the G8 as a promise and it was widely praised. But three years on, children need to see those promises being kept.

The additional billions pledged would go a long way towards providing comprehensive child and maternal health programmes, effective responses to mass killers like TB and malaria, quality basic education for all children, and universal prevention, treatment and care for people affected by HIV and Aids. In 2006, it was estimated that 9.7 million children aged under five died from what were mostly preventable and treatable diseases. To understand the scale of this, it is worth noting that there are some 136 nations with populations of less than 9.7 million. Imagine if on every New Year's Eve the entire population of a Senegal, a Sweden or two Singapores were lost to disease. This would be unacceptable and yet it is happening every year to our children.

In some ways it is the enormity of the statistics themselves that prevents us from seeing the human face of what is going on. To counter this devastation it is estimated that it only needs US$5.1 billion in new resources annually to save six million child lives in the 42 countries responsible for 90% of child deaths. Those countries would only need to increase the amounts they pump into healthcare by a few tens of cents to make a massive life-saving difference. Targeted overseas aid can help them do it if the money is made available.

But it is more than money that is required. The G8 leaders also need to recognise that children are part of the solution, not just the beneficiaries of international largesse.

Amid the media frenzy of this year's G8 meeting, the tight security, the protests, and the concerns of the world's most powerful leaders about the state of the global economy, it is easy to overlook what children are already doing to bring change to their world. This is because their voice is largely silent on the international stage.

World Vision's work with children has already shown that they are powerful advocates on issues that impact them. In Asia we have seen teenagers engage with governments at the top level on contentious and controversial issues like trafficking, forced or fraudulent migration and violence against children. But children are also making a huge difference at the grassroots level - and this is where real change, generational change, happens. Across Asia children are involved in children's clubs, learning about health issues, talking to their peers about how to avoid HIV infection, warning classmates to watch out for the traffickers who trawl their villages, encouraging local government officials to improve their schools, training parents how to grow healthier food and be more hygienic at home, and even advocating against the alcohol salesmen who turn their dads into violent beasts at home.

It doesn't take much to teach children because they are enthusiastic listeners but the impact of children learning simple things, like how important it is to wash one's hands before a meal or how to stop mosquitoes breeding in the pots outside the house, can potentially save tens of thousands of lives from killers like malaria and dengue, when scaled up. In other words, children can be trusted or empowered to bring change and in fact are often more open to new ways of thinking and doing things than adults.

Given that children are the most vulnerable to the effects of poverty and that so many millions of them are dying from preventable diseases and given that children are already part of the solution, shouldn't their voices be heard at the top table?

As the G8 meets, it is imperative that past funding commitments be upheld with a clear statement on what the G8 nations will spend on improving health, and when and how it will be spent. This is especially critical this year as the world faces a food crisis that is now threatening millions of already very poorly nourished children making them more susceptible to disease.

The G8 should know it is accountable to children - whether they are there or not.

The writer is Director Advocacy, World Vision Asia-Pacific Region.

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