7-14-05,9:47am
Director of UNICEF, Ann M Veneman, exhorted the leaders of the most powerful nations to take decisions in favor of the health and welfare of the more than one billion children living in poverty.
On the eve of the Group of Eight Summit, the senior UN official assured that adopting such decisions will mean the reduction of extreme poverty around the world and improvement in living conditions for hundreds of millions of children.
'By putting poverty and development at the centre of the agenda, the leaders of the Group of Eight have an unprecedented opportunity to help attain the Millennium Development Goals,' she said.
UNICEF recommended several highly effective investments which could be implemented with new resources through improvement in areas such as debt, aid, and commerce.
Other proposals are the inclusion of food, water and sanitary services in schools, placing special emphasis on keeping girls in the educational system, and the elimination of charges for enrolment, which would attract more students.
Another initiative is directed to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS among young people, mothers and children, and caring for millions of orphans vulnerable to this disease.
UNICEF warned AIDS has a dramatic impact on underage people, and drew attention to the plight of Africa due to this illness, where life expectancy has reduced from 60 to less than 40 years, and almost 15 million children have lost one or both parents.
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