Senior government officials including heads of state, first ladies and ministers of education, finance and health from Africa and around the world would meet in Dakar, Senegal, from November 10-13, to highlight the importance of broadening health, education and protection programmes for young children across the continent. The meeting on the theme, "Fourth African International Conference on Early Childhood Development (ECD): A Call to Action," would bring together policy-makers, experts and innovators. They will work towards rapidly expanding and improving services for young children, particularly vulnerable children; strengthening policies to support and protect young children; and increasing investments in quality programmes and bringing them to scale. According to an official statement from the association for the Development of African Universities (ADEA), working group on early childhood development, ministers of education, finance and health from 36 African countries were expected to attend the conference. It said first ladies would also be in Dakar and conduct a colloquium on early childhood development. The statement said over half of Africa's 130 million children aged 0-6 live in poverty and suffer multiple challenges that resulted in high rates of developmental delay, malnutrition, chronic illness and disability. "Meanwhile HIV and AIDS, malaria, endemic violent conflicts and severe poverty affect young children and mothers the most. The global economic crisis is exacerbating these challenges." "Still, despite the difficulties they face, governments across Africa have recognized the importance of early childhood development for the economic success and development of their countries," it added. It added that the conference would allow the participants the opportunity to explore ways to increase investments in programmes for the young children who were so important to their nations' future. Source: GNA