It gives me pleasure, on the 9th Anniversary of the International Year of the Child and at the beginning of 10th year since, to express great appreciation of the efforts exerted over the past nine years in support of initiatives, seeking to care for, protect and meet the needs of children; initiatives which represent the means best-suited to achieve human and national development.

To build on the achievements of those 9 years and to ascertain that children will occupy a prominent place in our national development plans, I deem it fit to proclaim the next ten years from 1989 to 1999 a Decade for the Protection and Welfare of the Egyptian Child. I hereby call upon individuals, state agencies, non-governmental organizations and charities to dedicate their efforts in this Decade to promoting and supporting the initiative, which proposes:
 To give greater priority to child-targeting projects in future plans.
 To work towards reducing mortality rates among children in general and infants in particular as well as among women.
 To work unrelentingly towards providing a better life for our children.

For this Decade to be effective, I consider it most appropriate to establish a number of goals that should be achieved by 2000 as follows:
 To raise the awareness of individuals and groups in the society about the need to apply modern methods of child health care with the ultimate goal of providing a better life for Egyptian children.
 To eliminate polio incidence by 1994.
 To gradually eliminate incidence of neonatal Tetanus by 1994.
 To reduce neonatal mortality rates to less than 50 in every thousand.
 To provide maternal health care with the purpose of reducing delivery-induced mortality rates among pregnant women.
 To provide basic education to all children and reduce illiteracy among school dropouts.
 To provide Egyptian children with a fair share of culture in all its forms including literature, arts, knowledge and media.
 To make available by 1994 in deprived schools and districts courtyards for playing sports and for practicing creative activities.
 To provide adequate social, health and psychological care for handicapped children.
I am certain that by exerting our utmost to achieve these goals, our children will be able to develop their mental and physical capabilities; an imperative for the progress of our economy. Spending on childhood is the best investment for the future of our country.