The goals of the World Summit for Children and their implications for health policy in the 1990s

The World Summit for Children was held at the United Nations on September 29-30, 1990. At the invitation of United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, heads of state from 72 countries and representatives from 88 other countries attended. The underlying objective of the Summit was to focus the attention of international political leaders on the problems of children, and particularly children's health, at a time when international political alignments and priorities were changing rapidly. The Summit issued a "World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children" which included specific goals that the summiteers endorsed "for implementation by all countries where they are applicable..." prior to the year 2000. This paper is a brief assessment of the implications and consequences of pursuing and/or achieving the goals of the Summit. The first part of the paper considers whether the magnitude of the mortality reduction goals proposed seems feasible in light of past experiences, and whether achievement of these goals is likely to lead to substantial additional population growth. The second part of the paper is a discussion of the methods proposed in the Summit document for implementing the goals, and the implications of governments and donors pursuing some goals but not others.