World must act to end child deaths by Save the Children 6:07pm 20th Sep, 2010   During the three days of this week''s UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) summit in New York, more than 66,000 children will die—mostly from diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and complications at birth. Save the Children this morning urged world leaders to end the tragedy of millions of completely preventable deaths of mothers and children that occur each year.    The meeting is the last major chance for world leaders to get back on track to meet their promises and save 15 million children by 2015, the aid agency said.    We''ve made real progress in tackling poverty, and improving the lives of millions of people over the past decade but the child and maternal mortality goals (MDGs 4 and 5) are the most off-track, of the eight global commitments world leaders made in 2000. Some 8.1 million children still die every year before the age of five and an estimated 358,000 women lose their lives due to pregnancy or childbirth complications.    Save the Children calls on the world''s leaders to step up their efforts to reach the goals, and says that they cannot do this by leaving the poorest children behind. Governments must focus on the barriers that stop the poorest children from getting access to the health care and nutrition that will improve their chances of survival, the agency said.    In a recent report, A Fair Chance at Life, Save the Children revealed that in many countries improvements in child survival are benefiting children from better-off communities more than children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, such as those living in remote areas, or from minority groups.    As a result, a global decline in child mortality rates has been accompanied by a dangerous expansion of the child mortality gap between the richest and poorest, widening existing inequalities. For example, in India - one of the world''s fastest growing economies - the poorest children are up to three times less likely to reach their fifth birthday than the richest children.    Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children''s CEO, said: "There has been real progress in tackling poverty and saving and improving the lives of millions of children, but the Millennium Development Goals need to be achieved across the board, in every community and in every country. Bypassing the poorest violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the targets. What''s more, it stands as the greatest threat to achieving the MDGs.    "While progress towards reaching the goals has meant that some children have benefited from better healthcare, nutrition, sanitation and education, other groups - girls, isolated rural populations, slum dwellers, ethnic minorities, and those in conflict zones, have not.    "World leaders at the summit must not lose sight of the fact that we can still meet the goals. We know what needs to be done to save lives; a sense of urgency and stronger leadership is now needed. The 22,000 children who will die today and every day because their parents can''t get the health care and nutrition they need to survive deserve this at the very least." Visit the related web page
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