Urgent Global Action Needed To Tackle Child Poverty, Healthcare Inequality - UNGA President

From Hasnah Jusid

SAMARKAND (Uzbekistan), Oct 21 (Bernama) – The international community must hasten efforts to address persistent poverty, healthcare inequalities, and inadequate social protection among children, as millions of them worldwide continue to face barriers to basic services and opportunities.

President of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Dr Khalilur Rahman said stronger international cooperation and concrete action were essential to ensure global development commitments translate into meaningful improvements in children’s lives.

Speaking at the World Summit on Investing in Children’s Wellbeing: A Path Towards Sustainable and Just Development for Future Generations here Wednesday, he said an estimated 333 million children worldwide were living in extreme poverty, with two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Behind these numbers are millions of young lives. What we need today is the acceleration of collective efforts, not diminished ambition,” he said.

Khalilur, who is Bangladesh Foreign Minister, said the United Nations’ 2026 assessment found that only 36 per cent of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets were on track or making moderate progress, highlighting the challenges facing countries in meeting their development commitments by 2030.

Highlighting inequalities in childhood cancer treatment, he said more than 80 per cent of children diagnosed with cancer were cured in high-income countries, compared with fewer than 30 per cent in many low-income regions. An estimated 400,000 children and adolescents develop cancer worldwide annually.

“This disparity is unacceptable. Survival should not be a matter of geography,” he said.

He urged stronger international cooperation in early diagnosis, access to essential medicines, and quality treatment to achieve the World Health Organisation’s target of at least 60 per cent childhood cancer survival worldwide by 2030.

Khalilur also called for greater investment in education, healthcare, and child protection, stressing that political commitments must be supported by adequate funding, transparent institutions, and measurable outcomes.

Meanwhile, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children Najat Maalla M’jid said nearly one billion children worldwide continue to live in multidimensional poverty, while three out of four lack access to any form of social protection.

She said children remain the primary victims of multiple global crises. Many deprived of adequate housing, nutrition, education, and healthcare, while violence against children continue to increase across homes, communities, institutions, and digital platforms.

“No country is immune, no child is immune,” she said. She stressed that child protection is a prerequisite for children’s wellbeing and must be integrated into broader social development policies.

Najat warned that violence against children also imposes substantial economic costs, reaching up to six times the national health budget in some countries and accounting for as much as 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in others.

She said investment in children’s wellbeing, particularly during early childhood, is essential to breaking cycles of poverty, inequality, and violence, and would also strengthen institutional trust, social cohesion, and democratic stability.

“We know, all of us, that investing in child potential and wellbeing delivers lasting benefits not only for children, not only for communities, but for whole societies,” she said.

Held over two days on Oct 21 and 22, the summit brings together about 600 representatives from governments, international organisations, and experts from more than 100 countries to discuss child protection, social welfare, healthcare, education, and sustainable development.

The summit is expected to conclude with the adoption of the Samarkand Declaration on Investing in Children's Wellbeing.

Held alongside the summit is the Second International Congress on Childhood Cancer, focusing on strengthening global cooperation in childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment.

– BERNAMA