Assembly/AU/Dec.75 (V) Page 1 DECISION ON ACCELERATING ACTION FOR CHILD SURVIVAL AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA TO MEET THE MDGs (DOC. ASSEMBLY AU/2(V)) The Assembly: 1. TAKES NOTE of the Report and ENDORSES the recommendations contained therein; 2. RECALLS the various blue-prints adopted in favour of improving the well-being of children in Africa, in particular, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990) and the African Common Position on the Future of Children – Africa Fit for Children (2001); 3. DEEPLY REGRETS that to-date only 35 Member States have ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and APPEALS to Member States which have not yet done so to expedite the ratification process; 4. AWARE of the fact that all the MDGs are, directly or indirectly relevant to children CALLS UPON Member States to scale up the process of attaining the goals, in particular the fourth goal on Reducing by twothirds the mortality of under-fives, which can be achieved by low cost, and high impact interventions; 5. COMMENDS UNICEF for its Accelerated Child Survival and Development (ACSD) Programme and REQUESTS UNICEF and other partners to extend the programme to the whole continent and Member States to mainstream the programme into their national health policies, the Poverty Reduction Strategies and Health Sector Reforms; 6. URGES Member States to: a) Reaffirm their commitment to implement pledges made to African children with renewed determination and set up mechanism at national level to ensure integrated child-centered, communitydriven implementation of the package consisting: Integrated management of childhood illnesses(IMCI), ante-natal care for mothers and immunization-plus; (b) collaborate with AU, UNICEF and other partners, to elaborate a road-map on MDG 4 for reduction of child mortality and morbidity to be considered at the Mid-term review of the African Common Position at the 2006 Pan-African Forum on Children; (c) within the framework of the Child Survival Partnership and other partnerships, commit national resources and mobilize additional resources to significantly reduce child deaths and suffering.