![]()
This year almost nine million children around the world could die from basic illnesses before their fifth birthday. We stopped this happening in rich countries – we can stop it in poor countries too.
THE ISSUE:24,000 children under the age of five will die today - their lives cut short before they'd really begun. Most of their deaths could have been prevented. But the reality is that not every child has an equal chance of survival. Children from the poorest communities are most likely to die.
A small number of diseases and conditions are the biggest killers of young children today. Pneumonia, measles, diarrhoea, malaria, HIV and AIDS and complications during pregnancy and after birth cause more than 90% of deaths in children under five. Children who are malnourished are at far greater risk of dying from these causes because they're too weak to fight disease.
Proven, low-tech and inexpensive solutions exist to stop children dying. But they're simply not being deployed on the scale needed to tackle the problem. What we need is the will - from politicians, the public, aid agencies, companies, EVERY ONE - to make it happen on a global scale.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?Western governments and donors need to double spending on basic healthcare and to combat malnutrition in developing countries. But those countries also need to do their part by creating national plans for tackling child mortality. Resources should be focussed on improving the health and nutrition of mothers and helping newborn babies survive.
WHY NOW?Right now, we've got a massive opportunity. In 2000, world leaders promised to cut the number of children under five who die by two-thirds by 2015 (Millennium Development Goal 4). We can do it - but only if we act now.
[youtube:1soikqtm]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ7TePZkebk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube:1soikqtm]
