Westport, CT (June 30, 2005) Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack today issued the following statement on President Bush's pledge to increase foreign assistance for key initiatives in Africa.

"On the eve of the G-8 Summit, President Bush is taking an important step to help more girls realize their dream of going to school, and improve the health and prosperity of present and future generations of children.

"Girls education is one of the best investments leaders can make to decrease poverty, improve health and promote democracy. Girls who go to school and stay there are likely to be healthier, to postpone marriage and childbirth, to have fewer children, to have the resources to ensure their children's health and education, and to contribute to the improvement of society as a whole.

"Save the Children also applauds increased attention on the need to prevent and treat malaria, which needlessly kills 850,000 children under 5 every year, with the vast majority of these children living in Africa.

"We urge both the President and Congress to build support for programs that will save the lives of another 9.8 million children under 5 each year who die from other preventable and treatable diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia, and from causes like neonatal infection and birth asphyxia. Recent studies show we could save the lives of 6 million children if the world's richest nations would provide $5.1 billion in new resources for low-tech and affordable health interventions."

Save the Children Experts Available:

Charles F. MacCormack, President and CEO, has provided the vision for Save the Children for the past 10 years. MacCormack serves on the Board of the International Save the Children Alliance, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the executive committee of InterAction, a coalition of 160 U.S. - based humanitarian aid groups. Prior to joining Save the Children, MacCormack was president of World Learning from 1977 through 1992.

Note: Charles MacCormack will be in Edinburgh, Scotland at the G-8 from July 4 through July 8.

David Oot, Director, Office of Health, has extensive program planning and management experience, in family planning, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, malaria control and other key child survival interventions. Oot formerly served as the director of health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He serves as Chair of the U.S. Coalition for Child Survival, a collaboration of organizations and individuals united to strengthen U.S. and global commitment to improve the health and survival of children in developing countries.

Chloe O'Gara, Director of Education, is an international education professional with expertise in basic and early childhood education, AIDS, gender and nutrition. She has had field experience in more than fifty countries of Africa, Central, South Asia and Latin America. She was most recently Vice President and Director of the Ready to Learn Center at the Academy for Educational Development. She is a core author of Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers 2005 report on the "Power and Progress of Girls' Education".

Media Contacts:

Eileen Burke
eburke@savechildren.org
203-216-0718 (cell)
In Edinburgh, Scotland at G-8 from July 4 through 7

Mike Kiernan
mkiernan@dc.savechildren.org
202- 460-0614 (cell)
In Washington, DC