How we care for children, protect their welfare, and prepare them for the future are the most important issues we face during our lifetime. All children are our future and deserve our love. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.

According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.

Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.

If prevailing trends perpetuates, the Millennium Development Goals target of reducing the proportion of underweight children by half will be missed by 30 million children, chiefly as a result of slow advancement in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Based on enrolment data, approximately 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as upbeat numbers. Almost a billion people entered the 21st century not able to read a book or sign their names.

Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350-500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.

Behind these facts are beloved individual children and their families who shouldn't have to agonize. We each have a moral responsibility to assure the vitality of all children because if we aren't part of the solution then we're part of the problem! Lets do what we can in abolishing poverty and starvation in the world.