Regional meet to gather health and human rights experts and leaders in Asia to push forth child's right to health

Manila, Philippines – Thirty health and human rights experts and leaders from five Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines will gather here on November 5-6 to identify key challenges and opportunities for improving the implementation and accountability of the child’s right to health in the region.

The two-day consultation is part of a series of regional meetings which will serve as a venue to discuss and plan for the rollout and implementation of the General Comment on Article 24, which pertains to the child’s right to health, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The General Comment, which is still in draft form, is being developed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) in partnership with WHO, UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children.

The General Comment will provide a concrete framework for the practical application of human rights to all efforts aimed at improving the health of children worldwide. As of 2009, 193 countries have ratified and accepted the CRC. The CRC is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.

“Every year, almost 7 million children globally die before their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable causes such as malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. Furthermore, millions of children are malnourished and have no access to health services,” says Anna Lindenfors, Country Director of Save the Children in the Philippines.

“Every child has the right to be healthy and well-nourished, and so it is our duty, together with government leaders, to ensure that all children have access to the health programs and services we are providing, and that these are effectively reducing cases of malnutrition and child mortality,” she adds.

The regional consultation is an opportunity for the different stakeholders to start laying down the groundwork for the practical measures of implementation, which includes legal, policy and accountability frameworks and to identify national and regional health priorities that will form part of the 2013 roadmap for implementation of the General Comment in the present countries.