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Newly Introduced Legislation Could Save Millions of Children's Lives
Westport, CT – (November 23, 2005) Amid growing concern about preventable or treatable causes that kill as many as 30,000 children each day worldwide - including as many as 12,000 babies not even a month old - Save the Children today called on Americans to support new legislation in Congress that would seek to dramatically reduce these deaths among children under 5 in the world’s poorest countries.
The bill would increase support and funding for basic life-saving tools such as vitamin A, vaccines and antibiotics that could save millions of children’s lives each year.
Introduced earlier this month by Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), the Child Health Investment for Long-Term Development (CHILD) and Newborn Act has received support from more than two-dozen co-sponsors in the House of Representatives including all five House members representing Connecticut, where Save the Children is headquartered.
Legislators co-sponsoring the bill include Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Rep. Ed Case (D-HI), Rep. Donna M. Christensen (D-VT), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Rob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Luis Fortuno (R-PR), Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Michael M. Honda (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Rep. John B. Larson (D-CT), Rep. James A. Leach (R-IA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA), Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Dutch C.A. Ruppersberger (D-MD), Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT), Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA).
“This legislation offers millions more children the chance to grow up to celebrate their fifth birthday,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children. “The increase in funding for child survival and newborn health programs, if realized, will allow us to reach more children with tools like vitamin A, vaccines and antibiotics that can make a difference between life and death for children in poor countries.”
“Leadership from the U.S. can and does make an enormous contribution in saving the lives of newborns and young children,” said Rep. McCollum. Stopping these diseases often only requires the basics we take for granted, such as antibiotics, vaccines and vitamins.”
Rep. Shays said, “The CHILD and Newborn Act would extend life-saving interventions in developing countries by doubling current funding for child survival and maternal health programs, requiring an integrated U.S. strategy for improving child and maternal health, and establishing guidelines for child survival programs. I am grateful to be working with Save the Children to pass this much-needed legislation.”
Another Connecticut House member, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), said, "This legislation embodies the generous nature of the American people by making life-saving vaccines and medicine available to millions of infants and small children around the world. This bill can save these lives."
The introduction of the legislation comes on the heels of a month of national attention to global health issues. Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, a groundbreaking effort anchored by a compelling six-part PBS/NOVA documentary broadcast in early November, raised awareness among Americans about global health in the world’s poorest countries.
Rx for Child Survival events were held in some of the 21 PBS community coalition sites through the U.S. to raise public awareness of and engagement in child survival issues. In New York City, leaders in the fields of medicine, government, business and public policy gathered at the TIME Global Health Summit from November 1 to 3 to discuss solutions to global health challenges. Additionally, the Senate recently declared November as the “Month of Global Health.”
Each year, more than 10 million children under age 5 die from preventable or treatable diseases such as measles, tetanus, diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria. Four of every 10 of these lost children are newborns. Malnutrition contributes to more than half of these deaths.
There are effective and affordable solutions. Antibiotics to treat pneumonia can cost as little as 15 cents. A child can be immunized against six major childhood diseases for as little as $15. Vitamin A, one-year dose of which costs just a few cents, is estimated to have saved 1 million lives between 1998 and 2000 alone. Oral rehydration solutions have helped reduce diarrhea deaths by half.
“We know Americans care about saving children’s lives,” said Charles MacCormack. “Now we need them to voice their support to their policymakers. By visiting www.savethechildren.org/childsurvival, they can encourage their members of Congress to pass the CHILD and Newborn Act.”
