7.6 million children die every year before reaching the age of five
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Senior officials from 80 countries around the world and a coalition of heads of health departments called for a concerted effort to fight for the lives of children who died before they reached the age of five, from diseases that could be prevented. It is alleged that a new, ambitious program will help reduce child mortality from 7.6 million a year to one million for twenty years.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on doctors and government representatives around the world to redouble their efforts to combat child mortality by contacting them during a recent meeting in Washington.
"There will come a day when all the children - regardless of where they were born - will get a chance to survive," said the Secretary of State.
The majority of delegates know that the goal can be achieved with the help of a complex of inexpensive effective medicines. Anthony Lake, director of UNICEF, says the main challenge is to find the political will to implement this project. Lake said that one of the new tasks for UNICEF is to allocate and direct the greatest efforts to the five countries where infant mortality from curable diseases is the highest.
UNICEF Administrator Rajiv Shah notes that countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, where the infant mortality rate exceeds 50 percent, make serious statements about the national strategy, resources and intentions, and international organizations take responsibility. "All this inspires confidence in the success of our plan," concluded Shah.
Most children under five die of curable and preventable diseases, such as malaria and pneumonia. The head of the World Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization says that the success of joint efforts is to provide access to modern medical methods and technologies in any part of the world.
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