Several weeks ago, UNICEF, one of the UN’s leading agencies, released its State of the World’s Children report. Published every year since 1980, the report helps to “monitor the trends that are shaping and reshaping the lives of children and young people [worldwide],” and it serves as an important tool in advocating for children and young people everywhere. Notably, while Africa has made important gains for children in recent decades, major issues persist.
Taking off from the SOWC, the following paragraphs shine a light on Eritrea’s commitment to its children and briefly discuss one powerful reflection of this – child health-related progress.
Unwavering commitment and robust policy framework
One of the world’s youngest countries, Eritrea is richly endowed with various natural resources. Home to a number of different ethnolinguistic groups, it boasts a colorful blend of beautiful cultures, and lively, vibrant diversity. The country’s long, pristine shoreline on the Red Sea holds significant potential for the establishment of a thriving blue economy, while its geo-strategic location, positioned along one of the world’s most important international maritime shipping routes, offers boundless opportunities to become a major transshipment and logistics hub. Furthermore, Eritrea’s rich biodiversity, abundance of unique socio-cultural and historical sites, untouched islands, and favorable climate, combined with its relative peace and security and the general warm hospitality of its people, present fantastic possibilities for a thriving tourism sector.
Above and beyond all of these advantages, however, Eritrea’s people, particularly its children and youth, are undoubtedly the country’s greatest resource and most precious asset. This has been articulated and explained in national documents, as well as by government officials. For instance, the country’s National Charter, adopted in February 1994 and which provides the guiding vision for the country, declares that, “Eritrea should strive to minimize infant mortality and to care for its children. The children of martyrs, in the tens of thousands, who were, deprived of the love of their parents, as well as other orphans, must be provided with proper upbringing and care. In Eritrea, the rights of children to education, health, love, safety, play, and to human dignity must be respected.”
Moreover, in a 2022 voluntary national development report that was submitted to the United Nations and presented at the High-Level Political Forum, Eritrea’s Minister of Information, Yemane GebreMeskel, explained that, “the Eritrean government’s policy is and has always been firmly centred on investing in human capital and youth, which are, without question, our most important resource and greatest asset.”
Since the onset of its independence, the country has worked for the fulfilment of child and youth rights and the reduction of their vulnerability in society. The first international convention ratified by the Eritrean government after the nation won its independence was the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), while it also acceded to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) in December 1999, not long after the Charter formally entered into force – thus reflecting the very high priority accorded to promoting and protecting child and youth rights, well-being, and development. In Eritrea, children’s legal rights, freedoms, and protections are set out in national law and policies, while a national child policy document, which will further safeguard and promote the rights and general well-being of children, is in the process of drafting and finalization.
Importantly, today there are a large number of policy initiatives and programs in place aiming to ensure that every Eritrean child and young person, regardless of background, is protected, healthy, and educated, with a particular focus on the vulnerable. In addition to several policies and measures promoting inclusive education and health, strong laws – and enforcement measures – prohibit child labour, trafficking, abuse, exploitation, under-age marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with multi-stakeholder, crosssectoral initiatives put in place to help address their underlying causal factors.
Of note, orphans, vulnerable children, and at-risk young people receive a broad range of support through the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW), different organizations, and government-supported host families and group homes, which protects them from a multitude of risks and helps to improve their standard of living. Several nationwide youth groups and associations, particularly the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS) and the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), exist to empower youth and children, provide them with the necessary skills, support and opportunities needed to reach their potential, and offer a platform through which their voice can be amplified and their engagement advanced. They also serve to celebrate the country’s rich ethnolinguistic diversity and promote mutual understanding, civic engagement, national cohesion, and unity.
A powerful reflection the commitment to children
There is no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Across the world, as a result of a variety of different factors and various developments, today that profound tragedy is far less common than it once was: with the caveat of the deplorable killing of children in conflict zones. During the last two centuries – and over the last several decades in particular – there have been tremendous strides made in reducing child deaths from curable diseases worldwide. Even while there has been global progress, huge disparities remain and improving child survival is still a matter of urgent global concern, especially in wide swathes of the Global South, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia.
Notably, in Eritrea, despite limited resources, an extremely difficult regional geopolitical context, and an array of daunting challenges, the young, developing country has achieved remarkable progress on reducing child deaths over a relatively short period of time. Specifically, the country has dramatically improved from 146 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1991 to 37 in 2022. Placing that into better context, it has moved from having one of the worst under-five mortality rates during the Ethiopian occupation period, to now being among the leaders on the continent and within the broader developing world. Notably, Eritrea’s average annual rate of reduction across the period is around 4.5 percent – one of the fastest in the world.
Eritrea’s substantial progress on reducing child mortality has been driven by a mix of factors that cut across several sectors. In addition to the high-level political will and commitment described in the previous section, among other things, the country has made steady advancements in women’s education and empowerment, significantly expanded health-related and general infrastructure, increased the number of doctors, nurses, and other health personnel, greatly improved access and service delivery, and carried out an array of high-impact, cost-effective lifesaving interventions.
Among the most prominent within the latter has been routine childhood vaccination, of which the latest national measles and rubella vaccination campaign is an excellent example. At independence, there were only six vaccines available for children and the nation’s coverage rate stood at less than 10 percent. Across subsequent years, however, the routine vaccination program has steadily grown; today, Eritrea administers 14 vaccines with national coverage rates being nearly universal in the high 90s – which is significantly higher than both the continental and global average. Notably, during an extended working visit to Eritrea in late 2021, Mohammed Malick Fall, UNICEF’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, explained that he was, “struck by the level of immunization [of children in Eritrea],” before going on to note that there, “are many advanced countries that have a hard time reaching [those coverage levels].”
Ultimately, these interventions have helped to prevent serious illness, disability, and death among children and youth caused by a range of dangerous, debilitating diseases.
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