Food, health care and education for every child – Race for Survival in North-West Balkans

„Today we gathered with the best possible objective in the world – to send a clear message to the whole society about importance of child protection and improvement of their status in the society. With this Race, held in Serbia for the first time, we want to say that it is obligation for the whole world to provide food, health care and education to every child. Me personally, and our Ministry, will do everything we can to achieve this goal as soon as possible," pledged on October 23 Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic during the Race for Survival marathon in Belgrade, Serbia.

In Belgrade, Serbian capital, the Race4Survival was held for the first time, organized in cooperation with SCiNWB partner organisation Centre for youth integration. The Race was opened by Minister Udovicic, along with presence of other Serbian officials and famous radio and TV showman Dusan Cavic, who joined children to take part in this global action.

Over 100 children, celebrities and representatives of governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H), Montenegro and Serbia joined Save the Children's Global Action Day and Race for Survival on October 23, calling on their leaders to take urgent action to save children's lives.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, global world marathon, Race for Survival, was held in Tuzla, northern Bosnian town, in cooperation with Save the Children in North West Balkan (SCiNWB) partner organisation Zemlja djece.  Besides primary school pupils, representatives of Tuzla Canton authorities supported and attended the Race – Tuzla's Mayor, Jasmin Imamovic, Education Minister, Adem Sehidic and Health Minister Nermina Hadzigrahic. One of the celebrities and supporters for the second year is Bosnian musician Elvir Laković Laka, who addressed the children prior to the Race: "With the Race, we will draw attention of adults to the necessity to provide health care for you, to provide food for the poor, to stop segregate others based on nationality or race, your only job is to stay happy and enjoy your childhood."

Mayor Imamovic emphasized on this occasion that in B-H there is a big issue with low birth rate and inadequate health care for children. „This race should motivate governments worldwide and in B-H to pay attention to child protection in their laws and strategies. It is unacceptable that a significant number of children below five years old die from causes that could be prevented if there is appropriate care."

In Montenegro, the Race was held in capital, Podgorica, in cooperation with SCiNWB partner organisation Child Rights Centre Montenegro. The Race was opened by Montenegrin Education and Sport Deputy Minister Vesna Vucurovic. Boxer and world champion in middleweight category Predrag Radosevic, Olympic volleyball player Maja Savic, basketball player Vlado Scepanovic, and martial arts expert Goran Radonjic, joined primary school pupils, urging their local leaders togive every child a chance of a normal life.Montenegrin Deputy Health Minister Mira Jovanovski-Dasic, representatives of Podgorica City Administration and Montenegrin Protector of Human Rights also attended the race, expressing support of the Montenegrin authorities.  

On Save the Children's Global Day of Action we are shining a light on the gross injustice of preventable child deaths and pushing for accelerated progress to save children's lives. This year over 50,000 children in more than 60 countries will call on their leaders to take urgent action in the fight against preventable child deaths.

Besides global goal, the Race for Survival in these three countries also has a local dimension – to draw attention to evident and continuously growing trend of children living in poverty and growing number of social care beneficiaries. The most vulnerable category are socially excluded children, often invisible to the social care system. This particularly refers to Roma children, as every Roma child in North West Balkans is three times poorer than other Children. With this Race, Save the Children in West Balkans calls for improvement of living conditions for children.

"At first place comes poverty reduction, than improvement of health care for mothers and children. We want to prevent high mortality of Roma Children, which is three times higher comparing to other children. Also, three times more Roma children suffer from malnutrition and is twice behind in development comparing to other children," warned Save the Children in North West Balkans Director Andrea Zeravcic.