Ms Chinwe Dike, UN resident Coordinator in The Gambia, has revealed that malaria still remains  a big threat as it kills one child under five years in every thirty seconds.

Ms Dike made these remarks on Thursday, at the launching of Unicef's State of the World's Children Report 2008, on the theme: "Child Survival", at a programme held at Sheraton Hotel in Brufut.

According to Ms Dike, when people speak of child survival, they hope to achieve the objective by the momentum and impetus sparked off in the global development arena by their pursuits of the MDGs.

"Our Unicef colleagues often reminds us that if we do not work towards child survival, given all the health and educational threats to child survival,  nothing else will count because children are our future. No children, no future!" she said.

The UN resident Coordinator lamented that since the adoption of the MDGs by all UN member states in 2000, it had become a universal framework for development. She maintained that following the completion of the first year of the mid-term of the MDGs, "we are asked to consider the gains made and challenges ahead in our journey to achieving this eight goals which were committed to eight years ago, at the dawn of the millennium".

She noted that depriving infants and young children the basic health care and nutrients needed for their growth would set up a whole generation to failure. She said that it is gratifying to know that The Gambia is committed to the plight of children and this, she added, is evident in the presence of the first lady  Zenab Jammeh in the gathering.