THE PROMISE TO SAVE

CHILDREN’S LIVES OUR CALLS

Save the Children, our partners and supporters
are asking G8 leaders to keep their previous
promises on health, hunger, education and
aid to get the MDGs back on track. We want
G8 countries to:
On 16 June, the Day of the African Child, r
Commit to double the level of donor
ANDREW ESIEBO funding for maternal, newborn and child
more than 150,000 people asked world health interventions from 2006 levels
leaders to take action and put a stop to (US$3.5 billion) to $7 billion in 2012, and
the needless deaths of millions of children focus a growing proportion of these resources
on the countries and communities with the
every year. highest mortality rates and number of deaths
of under-fives.
Across Africa children and adults marched,
r
Meet their Gleneagles commitments on aid
signed petitions and voiced their concern for spending.
children to decision-makers in their countries.
r
Revitalise their commitments to the Global
Presidents, First Ladies and officials made
Partnership for Agriculture Food Security
statements of support. All these people are and Nutrition (GPAFSN), so that it focuses
now waiting for world leaders to respond. on more than just increasing agricultural
supply.
The economic crisis is having serious r
Address the needs of the most vulnerable,
consequences for the world’s poorest. particularly children and women most
The World Bank estimates 200,000 to 400,000 affected by the crisis, by investing in nutrition
more children could die each year between and social protection programmes.
now and 2015 because of the crisis. As the G8 r
Significantly increase their basic education
meets to discuss solutions to the downturn, commitments to help meet the US$9bn
investing in children must be a key priority. external financing required to achieve quality
Universal Primary Education (with 50% of
16 June 2009, children in Abuja, Nigeria. this going to conflict affected fragile states).
Every year, more than 9 million children still die
before their fifth birthday – many from easily
preventable and treatable illness. Now, hundreds
of thousands of people globally are calling for
this to end.

Letters from members of

‘We pledge to do all we can to keep primary healthcare free at
our Global Children’s Panel

‘
government facilities, and to work with leaders across Africa and
the international community to give every country’s child the
right to life. We urge African leaders to heed the call for change Dear G8 leaders
and to put in place measures, as we are in Liberia.
I truly believe you are the type of people who want
to generate
massive change on a greater scale than ever befo
Making our continent fit for our children to live in peace and re, to save more
children’s lives than ever before.
prosperity, is a commitment we, as Africans, must make and
implement. We need the international donor community to I am taking this opportunity, shortly before you
attend the next
G8 summit, to write and implore you to protect
heed the call too, and play their part in supporting Africa.’ vulnerable children throughout the world. Sometim
the interests of
es, in politics,
A pledge by Liberia’s I imagine it can happen that well-intentioned prom
ises are broken.
However, many of the pledges made by the G8
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on ERIA
concern the welfare
the Day of the African Child LIB of children and it would be despicable if they were
diluted. Please
insist that world leaders work as if the lives of their
own nation’s

’
(16 June, 2009) 16 JUNE 09 children depended on them, to ensure that the
child mortality rate
is reduced at least by two-thirds before 2015.

Yours sincerely, K IN G D
D
Libby, 13
O
UNITE

09
Youth Ambassador NE
GEORGIE SCOTT

16 JU
and panel member, England

“Heads of government all over the world must

ANNA KARI

look at the hunger, social inequality and lack of

trained teachers for children and adolescents.”
Tamara, 18, Brazil

Hi,
“Every child should have one meal at least once
I would like you to know that with your
a day. Basic food should be very cheap.” support children’s dreams will turn to reality.
Rahim, 16, Bangladesh Many things will be created for children only
if you give them support.

“Anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/Aids Here in South Africa many unaccompanied

children from Zimbabwe were homeless,
should be freely available for every child
they were not going to school and
who needs it. We can’t just let them die.” sometimes wild animals attack them when H
AFRICA

Polite, 13, South Africa

T

they are in the bush. Others do odd jobs in

S OU

NE 09
the informal sector, where they are often 16 JU
subject to poverty. Save the Children made
sure that this kind of thing does not take
ANNA KARI

place any more, which is so very inadequate

to be tolerated by you.
“All children should have access to clean
In brief, I was trying to mean with your
water – at least one tap that provides clean support as government, Save the Children
water in every community, to avoid cholera, can do more than what they have done to
ANNA KARI

diarrhoea and other water-related diseases.” save children’s lives.

Maidinamu, 13, China
From Dominic, 16
Panel member, South Africa

‘Make Your Mark’ is Save the Children’s Dr Keseterberhan, Director General of

global petition to galvanise the public Health Promotion and Disease for the
and create a worldwide movement for Ministry of Health in Ethiopia tells us:
children’s survival. It doesn’t rely on “While the Government of Ethiopia has made
literacy, people can sign up with just a some success in reducing under-five deaths, we
thumbprint. By adding their print and
must invest in clean and safe delivery in two
joining our movement, our supporters are
areas to stay on track; one, community education
sending a clear message that the needless
on where to access clean and safe births; and
deaths of children are unacceptable.
two, extension and expansion of the training
GERI
for health extension workers on clean and safe NI
“One of my friends, Abu (5), was sick with
A

delivery and post-partum care. 16 JUNE 09

malaria. They needed to take him to the
hospital but there was no hospital, so he died.”
ANDREW ESIEBO

“The Government of Ethiopia can’t do this

Samual, 12, Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone alone. We need to better coordinate all the
interventions and work with partners and
“Making my mark today means to remember our donors to increase the share of the health
friends who died. There are many sick people in sector portfolio.” The First Lady of Nigeria pledged her
my community. There is no pure drinking water. ongoing commitment to child survival
on the Day of the African Child.
This needs to change.”
Musu, 11, Kuntorloh Community, AFRICA
H
Wellington, Sierra Leone
GEORGIE SCOTT

T
S OU

K IN G D 09
D NE
16 JU
O
UNITE

9
r ra L e o 16 JU
NE 0
ne
Sie

JODI BIEBER
AUBREY WADE

Primary school students in Free State, South Africa ,

A schoolgirl Makes her Mark in, Freetown, Make their Mark.
Sierra Leone.
Libby Rees and (left to right) MPs Annette Brooke,
Hillary Armstrong and John Battle Make their Mark in
Westminster, London.

Messages
HIOP
ET
IA

16 JUN
E 09

Almost 1 in 7 children fails to reach their fifth

birthday in Sub-Saharan Africa. Children highlighted
the issue through messages and poetry on the
Day of the African Child:

GERI
NI
A

16 JUNE 09

GERI
NI
A

16 JUNE 09

Affiong, from a primary school in Abuja Amanuel, from a school in Ethiopia

Chinleye, from a primary school in Abuja

Our global campaign

AUBREY WADE

REBECCA HARLEY

Our global campaign for children’s survival is

gathering momentum. People are voicing their
concern not just throughout the G8 countries
but all over the world.

Thousands of people in their constituencies across the UK and

at festivals and events over the summer continue to sign our
petition with thumbprints, asking for the UK government to
make significant policy changes to dramatically improve the lives
of millions of children across the world.
A boy holds up a message to his city council during a
march in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Top fashion model Liya Kebede talks to Charles MacCormack,

President and CEO of Save the Children US, during a series of
Capitol Hill events to commemorate the Day of the African Child.
 JODI BIEBER

Twins at a primary school in Free State, South Africa,

Make their Mark for children’s survival.

KATE TURNER/SAVE THE CHILDREN

A boy writes a message about what children need as

part of a class exercise in Nigeria.

At the Capitol Hill events: (left to right) Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African
Union Mission to the United States; Hawa Ndilowe, Ambassador of the Republic of
Malawi to the United States; Michael Klosson, Chief Public Policy Officer for Save the
Children US; Charles MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children US; Gloria
D. Steele, Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID, and Dr. Bill Frist,
former Senate Majority Leader and head of Save the Children US’s Survive to 5 campaign.
SANDO MOORE

A march in Liberia on the

Day of the African child 2009.

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