From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: CHILDREN: Africa's hope for the future
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 00:14:40 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: CHILDREN: Africa's hope for the future


an inter press service feature

by lucy johnson

london, sep 21 (ips) -- here's another statistic to add to the
many others that tell a tale of woe and pain about the african
continent: one third of the 40,000 children who die in the world
every day come from africa.

the united nations children's fund (unicef) is hoping that
perhaps this -- one of the several statistics that show the
suffering of the millions on this continent -- will grab the
attention of the better-off in the north and north-west, and jerk
them into action.

''children are about the only way we can still make people sit up
and take notice,'' says richard reid, head of public affairs in
(unicef).

and, he wants the developing nations to realise too, that
children are their future hope. ''governments are beginning to see
that it doesn't matter how much money you pour into an economy. if
you don't invest in primary health and education you end up with a
basket-case economy,'' says reid.

this is the argument that unicef will be taking to the
organisation for african unity (oau) conference on children to be
held in the senegalese capital dakar in november, according to
unicef officials addressing a london briefing on the conference on
monday.

the conference will draw together african governments and foreign
donors to discuss how money can most efficiently be spent on
improving the lives of african children.

in a briefing paper, unicef estimates the total cost of
improvements at about 12.7 billion dollars, a quarter of which
should come from the reallocation of resources inside the country,
and the rest from outside aid and investment.

''the problem is overcoming the ethos of afro-pessimism that
stands in the way of foreign aid,'' says reid. he says this
pessimism is a convenient excuse not to send larger aid packages
to african countries and is based on the questionable premise that
africa has never made headway towards development.

this thinking ignores the enormous strides africa made in
immunising its population in the 1960s and 70s, says reid. during
these two decades, 22 african countries reached the target of
immunising 75 percent of their children -- in line with european
countries. (more/ips)

children: africa's hope for the future(2-e)

children: africa's (2)

despite these advances, civil war, economic mismanagement and
lack of foreign investment in many countries have caused
children's conditions to slide backwards.

today more children die in mozambique each year than in all the
former soviet republics together. aid officials are concerned that
the figures will multiply over the next decade.

''since the evaporation of the ussr and the devolution of the
world into a uni-polar one with the united states calling the
shots, there is a great danger that africa will be totally
marginalised,'' says reid. ''this may be our last chance to stop
it sliding over the precipice.''

at the conference, children will be used to tug at the heart and
purse strings of foreign donors. at present only six percent of
foreign aid to africa is spent on social development. unicef wants
to bump that figure up to 20 percent.

foreign investment will also be targeted. however, reid was
unclear what incentives african countries would put forward to
lure foreign capital into notoriously volatile areas.

''the only investments you get in african countries are high risk
and high profit,'' says gilroy coleman, managing director of the
overseas development group of the school for development studies.

''companies want to be in there and out within three years with a
return on their money. the only place i can see substantial
investment is a stable south africa -- and that's by no means a
certainty,'' coleman added.

on a domestic front, unicef says the oau conference will discuss
the restructuring of national budgets to direct more funds toward
children. unicef estimates that if 10 percent of africa's military
spending was rerouted to development, aid budgets would double.

these goals can be met through 'national programmes of action
(naps)', a system set up by african governments after the world
summit for children at the united nations in new york in 1990.
while naps have so far been effective in immunisation, they have
not made inroads in other health or educational issues.

but, says reid, as african military regimes fall, their
successors are being pressured into addressing these issues.
''africa is at long last coming face to face with problems of
mismanagement and an emulative avalanche of prestige projects that
were of no benefit to the people.''

african governments are also leaning increasingly on local
organisations, which were seen as a threat by the nations' former
military dictators. these organisations are assisting in the
education of women and children about aids and healthy diets; and
are also building low-cost sewage systems to battle against
diarrhoea, africa's biggest child killer.(end/ips/cw-cd/lj/cpg/92)

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