23 Jun 2015

Pacific development agenda must have children at centre

7:34 pm on 23 June 2015

A new UNICEF report says 68 million more children under five will die from mostly preventable causes by 2030 if they are not placed at the centre of the world's development agenda.

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Photo: Unicef

The report - Progress for Children: Beyond Averages -is a stock-take of what was achieved under the Millenium Development Goals and shows change is needed when the Sustainable Development Goals are revealed by the UN in September.

Sarah Morris of UNICEF New Zealand says the Pacific has seen mixed results for the care of children and more needs to be done.

"UNICEF has been lobbying member states of the UN to put children at the centre of the next agenda. So its a really big year this year for scheduling or putting together an agenda that is going to put children at the heart of progress."