Westport, Conn. (July 11, 2008)—Save the Children welcomed renewed commitments by G8 leaders this week to improve health, education and child nutrition programs in developing countries, but cautioned that the world's eight leading economies need to back up their promises with additional resources.

"The lives of millions of the world's poorest children will be affected, for better or worse, depending on how the G8 lives up to its promises," said Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack. 

MacCormack noted that G8 leaders, meeting in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan, have renewed their commitments made three years ago at the historic meeting in Gleneagles to work with developing countries to meet specific goals in critical areas such as child mortality, school enrollment and child nutrition.

"While we welcome these reaffirmations on issues so central to the wellbeing of vulnerable children worldwide, we also recognize that these commitments are only meaningful if they translate swiftly into action and achievement," he said.

One hopeful sign, MacCormack said, was the G8's decision to establish a panel of experts to monitor implementation of its commitments. "We hope this will improve overall progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and we at Save the Children look forward to sharing our views with that group during the lead-up to next year's summit in Italy," he said.

MacCormack added that on September 25 the UN Summit meeting on the Millennium Development Goals will provide "an important, near-term opportunity" for G8 leaders, together with the rest of the international community, to take more decisive action on the global development agenda. 

Looking to that summit and beyond, MacCormack encouraged G8 leaders to deliver more quickly on their noteworthy commitments to help reduce newborn and child mortality worldwide, provide quality education to children in areas of war and conflict and help combat the escalating food price crisis that is threatening hundreds of millions of poor children and their families across the globe.

"The current food price crisis threatens to reverse the progress we have made over the past several decades in reducing child mortality rates," MacCormack said. "Rather than continue to decline, death rates of children under 5 could very well spike upwards in the next several years as a result of severe malnutrition caused by the high price of food and basic commodities.

‘We urge the G8 to back its global food security commitments with decisive action and consider increasing its current commitment beyond the $10 billion already pledged in innovative safety net, nutrition and agriculture production initiatives.”