ONE Celebrates Child Survival Progress, Emphasizes Work to Come

Washington, DC – ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History celebrates a historic milestone announced this week: global child deaths have fallen to a record low, dropping below ten million per year to 9.7 million. ONE emphasized that Congress must provide the resources to continue these efforts, pointing out that bipartisan legislation with widespread support, such as the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, must be voted on immediately.

The progress is largely the result of inexpensive and effective solutions such as bednets used to prevent the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes, Vitamin A supplements, early and exclusive breastfeeding, immunizations against measles and oral rehydration therapy for children with diarrhea. Oral rehydration therapy is a simple mix of water, sugar and salt. Utilizing these solutions, the child death rate fell from almost 13 million in 1990 to 9.7 million in 2007.

Solutions like these are provided by the bipartisan US Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, sponsored in the Senate by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) in the House by Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Chris Shays (R-CT). The bill promotes the use of effective, affordable preventative measures such as immunizations, antibiotics, clean drinking water and vitamin supplements to save the lives of almost 30,000 children under age 5 that die each day from preventable and or treatable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and measles.

“Solutions promoted in the Global Child Survival Act would help continue the progress made in Sub-Saharan Africa, where despite significant progress, a great deal more work is needed,” said Kimberly Cadena, ONE Campaign spokesperson. “This historic milestone represents the fruit of the combined efforts and resources of governments, non-government organizations and individuals, working together around the globe to make the health of our children a priority. In order to achieve the greater victory – further reducing the number of children who die each day from treatable, preventable disease – we must support legislation like the Child Survival Act, which provides critical resources in this continued fight to save children’s lives.”

“The new numbers are encouraging and show that many countries are on the right path to progress in reducing child deaths,” said Charles MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children. “But we can do better. Nearly 27,000 children still die each day – and most could be saved if all children had access to simple health measures taken for granted in the United States, and if we focused more on saving the lives of the 4 million newborn babies who die each year. The first hours, days and weeks of a baby’s life are critical. Yet, only a tiny minority of babies in poor countries receive proper heath care during this highly vulnerable period.”

The mortality rate for children under five years of age has decreased by 29% from 2000 to 2004 in Malawi. The child mortality rates in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda and Tanzania have declined by more than 20 percent. However, of the 9.7 million children who die each year, 4.8 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Substantial progress has been made in Latin America and East Asia. The Latin American and Caribbean region is on track to achieve the child mortality Millennium Development Goal, reducing the deaths on average for every 1,000 live births from 55 to 27.

Background

Under-five child mortality estimates are produced at the global level by the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, which includes UNICEF, WHO, The World Bank, the UN Population Division, Harvard University and others.