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Senator Frist to Lead New Save the Children Initiative to Reduce Child Mortality Worldwide
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Senator Bill Frist, MD, gives a polio vaccine to a baby while visiting one of Save the Children’s community health projects in Bangladesh last month. |
Read more about Survive to 5 in the New York Times
Watch Bill Frist, Cokie Roberts discuss Survive to 5 on Charlie Rose Show
Westport, Conn. (September 6, 2007) — Save the Children tonight will announce a new global initiative, chaired by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, to save the lives of millions of children who die each year from treatable or preventable causes in developing countries.
Called Survive to 5, the new initiative will seek to reduce the staggering number of deaths of children under 5 — currently estimated at more than 10 million a year. Health experts estimate that as many as 6 million children could be saved if a package of low-cost health interventions were made more readily available to children and their families.
Frist will launch the new initiative at Save the Children’s 75th anniversary benefit tonight at Lincoln Center in New York City. Former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton and Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also will be attending the benefit as honorees.
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Masuma, 1, is vaccinated at a clinic in northern Afghanistan. |
“We’ve already identified the cost-efficient solutions that can save millions of children’s lives,” Frist said. “The next step is mobilizing Americans’ compassion to make it happen.”
Besides seeking additional resources to help children survive the first five years of life, Frist said the initiative would seek to mobilize private sector partnerships, schools, corporate and community groups and prominent individuals to speak out on the issue. “We want to get everyone talking about saving children’s lives — from CEOs to third graders. As Americans grow to understand how easily we can provide hope to millions of children, they will demand action,” he said.
“With Senator Frist leading this campaign — and with the support of millions of Americans who share his desire to save children’s lives — I am convinced that we can dramatically reduce child mortality rates worldwide,” said Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack.
The announcement of the Survive to 5 initiative follows a series of highly publicized reports by Save the Children over the past 18 months focusing on the need to reduce alarmingly high child and newborn mortality rates. Among the reports’ major findings:
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The three biggest killers of children under 5 worldwide are pneumonia, diarrhea and birth complications. Twenty percent of all deaths of children under 5 — 2 million children each year — take place within the first 24 hours of life.
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Child and maternal death rates are highest in the poorest, most disadvantaged places. Nearly all under-5 and maternal deaths (99 percent) occur in developing countries in settings of poverty, where children are most vulnerable to diseases and malnutrition. The highest rates are in Africa and South Asia.
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The majority of child deaths occur in just 10 countries, many with large populations (such as China and India) and others with very high child mortality rates (such as Afghanistan, Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo).
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Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines have made the most progress since 1990 in reducing child mortality rates among 60 countries that pose the greatest risks to children under 5. Of the 60 countries, 20 had made no substantial progress since 1990.
Recommendations:
To succeed in saving the lives of children under 5, Save the Children recommends that developing countries:
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Invest in basic, low-cost solutions to save children’s lives. The most dangerous threats to children’s survival can be fought with relatively simple and inexpensive solutions. Breastfeeding provides nutrition and improves immunity to often life-threatening illnesses common to infants. Immunizations protect children from measles and other diseases. Oral rehydration therapy can save a child from dying of dehydrating diarrhea. Antibiotics treat pneumonia. Insecticide-treated mosquito nets help prevent malaria.
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Make health care available to the poorest and most vulnerable mothers and children. Childbirth can be made much safer if mothers and newborns receive care from trained health workers before, during and after delivery. In remote, hard-to-reach communities, diarrhea and many cases of pneumonia can be treated by training community-based health workers close to where children live.
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Increase funding and improve strategies to provide basic, effective, lifesaving services to those who need it most. Basic health systems and services in developing countries are underfunded. To increase access to services, poor countries need new strategies that bring health information and health care right into villages in need.
Save the Children is calling on governments to increase their political and financial support for proven solutions that save the lives of mothers, children and newborns. MacCormack noted that the U.S. government, once a leader on the child survival movement, should demonstrate leadership toward these goals by passing legislation that would authorize increased resources and require a comprehensive U.S. strategy for improving maternal, newborn, and child health.
“It only costs a few dollars to protect young children from conditions that disable or kill millions each year,” said MacCormack. “With modest increases in funding, we can help countries reach the poorest with child survival and maternal health services. The United States can provide the leadership that will give mothers and children new hope and opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives,” he said.
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