Our guiding principles direct all of our decisions
Nine principles
1We are grounded by the fundamental belief that every child has a right to ‘health and well-being’ and all children should achieve their full potential.
2We acknowledge we all have a role to help educate governments and the public of the dangers of lead and how they can help protect their children.
3We are confident solutions to protect children from lead exposure are well within reach and they need not compromise growth, prosperity, or equity.
4We believe our efforts to protect children from lead exposure must be meaningful, measurable, equitable and ensure sustained progress towards improving the health and well-being of children.
5We appreciate that inherent in these principles is the need for government action to implement legislation and set and enforce standards that properly regulate the safe manufacture, usage and, most importantly, smelting of lead-acid batteries.
6We commit to a multi-stakeholder approach to work collaboratively with local and national governments, businesses, the United Nations system, academia and civil society to share best practices and model policies.
7We recognize that the task of addressing this global crisis poses a formidable challenge that will not be met overnight. Actions and interventions may need to occur incrementally, and always with the awareness of local conditions and concern for livelihoods.
8We have the tools to track and measure our progress towards improving the health and well-being of children.
9It is time to do this.
How our principles inform our actions
By allowing these principles to guide every action our partnership takes, we can be sure of our path toward tangible results that protect children’s futures.
By revisiting the guiding principles before undertaking new projects – and moving forward on existing projects – we can assure that we stay in line with the goals we intend to meet. This set of statements guides our long-term mobilization efforts, ensuring clear steps to measurable and meaningful progress. Because it’s time to put an end to childhood lead exposure.
The Dangers of lead exposure
One in three children globally suffers the effects of lead poisoning each day. A lack of awareness and symptoms means that they continue to be unknowingly compromised. Children under five are particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxin, absorbing 4–5 times as much ingested lead as adults from a given source. This causes irreversible and lifelong physical, neurological and cognitive impairment, wreaking havoc in still-developing organs and systems. As lead exposure increases, the range and severity of symptoms also increases.
