Overcrowding, lack of potable water and sewage facilities, lack of adequate food, and inadequate caretaking characterize the environments of many young children. These statistics are likely to worsen as the numbers living in urban areas increase, which they will. It is estimated that by the year 2000, urban populations in the developing countries will increase from the 1 billion in 1980 to 2.1 billion. This represents a 110 per cent increase, compared with a projected increase in the world's population during that same time period of 38 per cent. Thus a further expansion of urban slum and squatter settlements is inevitable.
Children everywhere deserve to thrive.
As more infants survive, and as social change accelerates, a moral and social imperative grows. In so doing, we will also be increasing the chance of survival to age five and beyond, for these disadvantaged survivors to age one are also the children who will be more likely to die before age five. What can be done to enhance their growth and development and to help them not only to survive, but also to realize their individual and social potential. Early Childhood Programmes can offer benefits to individual children, to families, to communities, and to society. Before you can build a house, it is necessary to lay foundation stones to support the entire structure.