Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
We love all moms around the world! We began our Mother’s Day celebration last weekend when the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a healthy baby girl, HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. There is much to celebrate, as the new royal baby has been born into a world where more and more moms and their kids are receiving important healthcare that ensures a healthy life. While progress is being made, there are still millions of women and children who suffer due to inadequate care.
In honor of Mother’s Day, here some important facts that have changed the lives of mothers and kids over the past 25 years:
1. Between 2000 and 2013, there has been a 58% decline in child deaths in Africa.
Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
2. Between 2001 and 2012, new HIV infections among children fell by 52%.
3. Thanks to the accelerated progress in reducing child mortality, 100 million children’s deaths were averted – among them some 24 million newborns – who would have died had mortality remained at 1990 rates.
Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
4. The under-five mortality rate is falling faster than at any other time in the past two decades.
Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
5. Since 1990, both maternal and child mortality have been reduced by 50% worldwide and access to reproductive health services has improved.
6. Between 2000 and 2012, malaria deaths among under-fives fell by 51%. If the trend continues, deaths will fall by 63% for children under five and by 56% for all ages by 2015.
Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
7. The first 28 days of life – the neonatal period – is the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival. The worldwide neonatal mortality rate fell by 40% between 1990 and 2013 – from 33 to 20 deaths per 1,000 live births. Over the same period, the number of newborn babies who died within the first 28 days of life declined from 4.7 million to 2.8 million.
8. Around 44% of pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries received HIV testing and counseling in 2013, up from 26% in 2009.
Photo credit: Jonathan Torgovnik
9. From 2005-2013, there has been a steady decline in the number of AIDS-related deaths among women of reproductive age and a 41% reduction in the number of maternal deaths among women living with HIV.
10. Vaccination resulted in a 75% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2013 worldwide.
This progress shows investments in health can help remove the barriers that prevent so many girls and women from leading healthy and productive lives.
