Mr. President,

The Special Session on Children adopted the Declaration and Plan of Action entitled " A World Fit for Children" three years ago. It is encouraging that since then, 41 countries have completed national plans of action for children, 45 national plans for children are under formulation, 14 countries foresee the development of such a plan and 14 countries with existing national plans are reviewing them. But we cannot be complacent. According to the Human Development Report of UNDP, every hour of the day over 1, 200 children die around the world, the majority of deaths caused by a preventable disease - poverty.

Mr. President ,

Five years ago, the leaders of the world adopted a comprehensive and detailed set of human development goals - the Millennium Development Goals and thereby pledged to halve extreme poverty by 2015. The strong focus of the Millennium Declaration on the lives of children gives added impetus towards the attainment of " A World Fit for Children " and has led to the convergence of national planning processes around a common set of goals.

Mr. President ,

Both the Millennium Development Goals and "A World Fit for Children" aim to reduce infant and under-five mortality rates by two thirds in 2015. Presently, only a few countries are on track to attain these goals. The Human Development Report, 2005 projects that on current trends, this goal will be achieved only in 2045. In an era of globalization, where technology, trade and investment has advanced dramatically, it is disturbing that 6 million children die annually of diseases that could be prevented or effectively treated. They die because simple yet high-impact, cost-effective interventions that could have prevented their deaths remain beyond the reach of their families, particularly in the developing world. Effective national action complemented by sustained international community's assistance would be needed to reverse this trend.

In Myanmar, we are making great efforts to promote health of the children. Under–five mortality rates have dropped from 130 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 66.6 per 1,000 live births in 2003. We aspire to reach the target of 38.5 per 1,000 live births by 2015. The decline in pre-natal, infant and child mortality rates during the past two decades is the result of the implementation of the National Health Plan, which provides increased access to primary health care, increased immunization coverage, promotion of oral rehydration therapy and emphasis in implementing the Making Pregnancy Safer Initiative as a high priority component of reproductive health strategy.

Mr. President,

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation also have an important bearing on child mortality rates. In Myanmar, a safe drinking water supply programme for water-scarce rural areas has been carried out for years and will continue during the third short term plan period 2001-2005. According to multiple indicator cluster surveys, access to safe drinking water has increased from 32 percent in 1990 to 72 percent in 2000. Access to improved sanitation has also increased during the past decade from 36 per cent in 1990 to 83 percent in 2000. The National Sanitation Week Initiative which started in 1998 serves as an effective advocacy tool to boost community awareness and to increase sanitation coverage.

Mr. President,

In today’s world of abundance, it is regrettable that more than 1 billion people survive on less than one dollar a day, 208.6 million of them are youth. While increased ODA is one of the effective tools to fight poverty, solutions also need to be found for improving market access for developing countries. Protectionist trade barriers and agricultural subsidies by rich countries distort trade and impact negatively on the development efforts of the developing countries. Unfair and unbalanced trade rules greatly hamper the efforts to achieve the MDG’s and the goals set out in "A World Fit for Children".

In Myanmar, as part of our efforts to achieve economic growth and social progress in line with the MDG's, three National Development Programmes are being implemented to achieve balanced development and narrow the socio-economic development gap between rural and urban areas. These Development Programmes are the Border Area Development Programme, the 24 Special Development Zones Plan and the Integrated Rural Development Plan.

Mr.President,

We believe that education is the key to progress and poverty alleviation. In Myanmar, to achieve the goal of universal primary education, we have implemented Education For All activities since 1996-97. A National Plan of Action in accordance with the Dakar Education For All Goals was also drawn up in 2003. Due to such efforts, in academic year 2004-2005, the intake rate of 5+ children was 96.56 percent, net primary school enrollment rate was 84.5 percent and primary completion rate was 74.5 percent. The number of primary, middle and high schools have increased from some 33,923 in 1990 to 40,525 in 2004. Efforts have also been made to improve the quality of education. Reforms in the official curriculum and assessment methodology have been undertaken and the use of ICT is strongly encouraged.

Mr. President,

The border areas of Myanmar lagged behind in development due to decades of armed insurgency. Prevalence of armed insurgencies resulted in the absence of an effective education infrastructure and created barriers to education. The lack of education opportunities resulted in more violence, creating a vicious cycle. Today, that vicious cycle has been broken. Because of the national reconciliation efforts of the Government, 17 armed insurgent groups have now returned to the legal fold . Now that peace and stability have returned to the border areas, the Government was able to bring education to the children residing in these areas. 15 years ago, there were a mere 28 schools in the border areas of Myanmar, today there are 790 schools and over 120,000 children are currently enrolled.

In an effort to ensure that no child is left behind, two Nationalities Youth Resource Development Degree Colleges affiliated to major Universities in Myanmar have been established. There are also twenty seven Training Schools for Development of Nationalities Youth from Border Areas. The Government provides full scholarships for nationalities youth from border areas. Nineteen domestic science vocational training schools have been established in the border areas for girls and women and 14,801 girls and young women have benefited from vocational training offered in these schools.

Mr. President ,

According to the Report of the Secretary-General, in 2004 some 2.2 million children under the age of 15 were living with HIV/AIDS, 510,000 died of AIDS and 640,000 were newly infected. Since the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was adopted in 2001 at the twenty-sixth special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS , there has been stronger leadership at all levels and new resources have been mobilized, the global commitment is unprecedented. However, greater efforts are needed if the international community is to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Some 89 countries have adopted national strategies for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS; 79 countries have adopted school-based life skills education; and 47 countries have established national strategies for the protection and care of orphans and vulnerable children.

Mr. President,

Where HIV/AIDS is declining, it is primarily because young people have learned to practice safe behaviours. In Myanmar, life skills training and social development for youth is conducted by the National AIDS Programme in coordination with national NGO’s. The Ministry of Education has developed in collaboration with UNICEF, "School Based Healthy Living and AIDS Prevention Education" (SHAPE) in 1997. Since then, the programme has been adopted as part of the official curriculum and is taught at all levels starting from primary level. The SHAPE Programme has also been expanded to key groups outside the formal education system.

Mr. President,

In today’s interconnected world, assistance to developing countries to fight HIV/AIDS is not just a moral imperative but also an investment for a common future. HIV/AIDS poses a serious challenge to the global community and it is a challenge that can only be successfully addressed by the cooperative efforts of the entire international community.

Mr. President ,

May I conclude by reiterating Myanmar’s firm commitment to the goals set out by the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields. Myanmar stands ready to work together with others in the international community to implement them. In fulfilling these common goals, we will also be creating – A World Fit for Children.

Thank you.