The United Nations is not loved by everyone, nor does it always do everything right. Even when it is not being controversial, it often appears ineffectual or, worse yet, boring. There are only so many conferences, forums, summits, accords, agreements, understandings, commitments, resolutions and declarations that people can absorb in a given period without their attention shutting down. Yet if there is a single U.N. field of endeavor that we should stay awake for, it is the one that was the subject of a little-noticed international conference (or, in U.N.-speak, "global consultation") in Stockholm last week: child and adolescent health and development. This is an area where the U.N. actually makes a difference in people's lives.

Last week's conference, organized by the World Health Organization and the U.N. Children's Fund, was part of a process that has been gaining momentum for over a decade. In 1990, the first World Summit for Children and implementation of the breakthrough Convention on the Rights of the Child pushed awareness of the whole concept of children's rights higher on government agendas everywhere. At the summit, 71 heads of state and government and other leaders signed a declaration on the survival, protection and development of children and agreed on a set of 10-year goals in the areas of health care, basic sanitation, food, education and protection from danger, including the dangers of war and sexual exploitation.

In May, the U.N. General Assembly will convene an unprecedented followup Special Session on Children. It will review progress made toward the 1990 goals, assess the reasons for setbacks and shortfalls, and draw up a new action plan for the next decade. Ahead of this event, which will cover the whole gamut of child-related problems, experts have been meeting in smaller forums such as the health-focused conference in Stockholm. The aim of this gathering was to reach a prior consensus on ways to reduce the still scandalously high death toll among the world's youngest and poorest inhabitants. Governments will then have the opportunity to "commit to those strategies" at the special session with specific pledges of money and skilled personnel.