
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 3, 1995                   TAG: 9510030071
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T CUT CHILDREN'S LIFE LINE

ONE WAY to put the debate about foreign aid into perspective is to think of children's aid.

Actually a tiny percentage of spending by the United States, foreign aid makes an easy target for budget snipers trying to shoot down spending without hitting innocent bystanders. But foreign as well as domestic spending affects innocents who can't fend for themselves.

Chief among these are children, who don't start wars but are often the victims of them; who can't influence their governments' policies, and are often neglected by them; who did not ask to be born or choose the circumstances into which they are born, and must struggle to live under them. Too often, they fail.

The House of Representatives, partly in recognition of the vulnerability of children in developing nations, has passed a foreign aid bill for 1996 that earmarks $592 million for a new Children and Diseases Fund. The Senate bill, unfortunately, includes no such fund.

This doesn't mean that, if the Senate version prevails, no foreign aid would be spent on initiatives to improve the health and well-being of children. But with foreign aid a likely target for spending cuts, the Senate bill does not specify an amount that must be spent on such proven programs as immunizations, education and UNICEF. As foreign aid is reduced, these essential programs can expect proportionate cuts.

They ought to be protected.

A lot of demagoguery swirls around foreign aid today. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., is leading a charge against it. He ignores the fact that, by promoting development, foreign aid fosters international stability and the growth of markets for U.S. goods.

It also happens also to be the right thing to do. Since 1960, development assistance has helped reduce infant mortality rates (by 50 percent), improve life expectancy (from 46 years to 63 years), and increase primary school enrollment (from 48 percent to 78 percent) in developing countries.

A global effort to meet life-or-death needs of children already means that an estimated 4 million lives are being saved each year that would have been lost to measles, tetanus, respiratory diseases and dehydration from diarrhea. The 1990 World Summit for Children set global goals of reducing child deaths by one-third and child malnutrition and maternal deaths by one-half, and providing every child access to basic education by the year 2000.

These are daunting goals, but they can be reached - if countries don't allow their commitment to dwindle.

A House and Senate conference committee is to meet sometime after Columbus Day to resolve differences in the foreign appropriations legislation. Funding to preserve the U.S. commitment should be guaranteed in the final version.

by CNB