Madam, - I would like to respond to the comments by Dr Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, reported in your edition of December 10th ("Unicef accused of 'having lost its way'".
Dr Horton views Unicef and its work through a very narrow lens. Child survival cannot be seen solely as a health issue in isolation from the other forces acting in children's lives. Nor can child survival be seen in isolation from the way the world fundamentally treats children.
Children who die before the age of five are primarily children who live on the margins of society. Their communities are isolated either by poverty or by minority status, or through geographic remoteness. Ensuring that governments make the extra effort to reach these children is not simply about "scaling up interventions". It is also about persuading governments that they have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the rights of every child.
This is the essence of the child-rights approach which has been embraced not only by Unicef, but by the 192 governments which ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and have committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals.
These goals themselves are based on the idea that human rights and human development go hand in hand; one cannot be achieved without the other. The essence of the Lancet commentary is that child rights in some way undermine child survival. The evidence tells us otherwise.
For example, studies have shown that when a girl gets a basic education, her children are more likely to survive, be healthy, and to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. That is why Unicef believes that educating every boy and girl is one integral part of our long-term strategy to produce lasting gains in child survival.
Despite the gains for children made by Unicef and our partners worldwide, pandemics such as HIV/AIDS are threatening the very foundations of many African countries.
Currently, Unicef is leading ground-breaking work in several parts of the globe on child survival that are showing tremendous promise but we also recognise that much more needs to be done. Child deaths were reduced between 1990 and 2002 by 11 per cent globally,but more than 2 million young children still die every year from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines and more than half a billion children have no access to proper sanitation.
Armed conflict, nature's unpredictability and diseases such as HIV/AIDS continue their relentless assault on families, communities and nations across the world. UNICEF will not be deterred from its work to ensuring the rights of every child to survival, protection and development and the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.- Yours, etc.,
MAURA QUINN, Executive Director, Unicef Ireland, Great Strand Street, Dublin 1.