Closing The Gap For Children At RiskChildreach For an entire generation of children, conditions around the world have improved dramatically. Deaths from diarrhea and vitamin A and iodine deficiency have dropped and more communities world-wide have access to schools and safe drinking water. Yet, even with the breakthroughs of modern science and technology, millions of children are still at risk. Each day they face challenges ranging from meeting their basic needs of finding food and water to gaining entrance to school to working in slave-like situations.  This May 8-10, the world's leaders, nongovernmental organizations, children's advocates, and children themselves will meet at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in New York. Here, they will agree on nearly forty points that must be addressed by their governments to create a more hospitable environment for children by 2010. The four priorities of the Special Session are: The results of this historic meeting will materialize in a document entitled, "A World Fit for Children," outlining specific activities to meet these priorities. Each participating government will agree to uphold its promises through a National Plan of Action. This treaty will represent a commitment to ensure opportunities for children to realize their full potential in every nation. Despite the best intentions of our world's leaders, however, the goals of this Special Session can never be met until we close the gap in services, access, and opportunities for children at risk. As a world family, we must come together to address the root causes of poverty and their impact on children. This focus includes providing pre and post natal care for mothers, linking children with access to basic health care through age five and on to adulthood, building and staffing schools that help children realize their full potential, and working with families to develop income-generating opportunities that help them help themselves. In Plan program areas around the world, staff members work with local communities to meet the needs of children in the areas of health, education, and livelihood. Projects are designed to engage communities in making long-term, lasting improvements in the lives of children and may include efforts from home construction to adult literacy; immunizations to small business training. Since 1937, Childreach/Plan has worked with local communities, currently in 43 developing countries, to promote sustainable development. As we welcome the decisions of the Special Session, we know that world leaders will not be able to make a significant impact in the war on poverty until they join together to implement solutions that will sustain communities over the long-term. After the Special Session on Children concludes on May 10, we must assist our leaders in meeting these goals and objectives. We must continually remind politicians and government officials to keep these issues on the agenda - to put children first. During the past year, we have learned that we cannot afford to live in a world divided into "haves" and "have-nots." We must join together across social and political boundaries to make this world a great place to live - for children and the adults they will become. Samuel A. Worthington
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