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World leaders 'ignoring' extent of child deaths in Third World
7 Sep 2010An extra four million of the world's poorest children died over 10 years because governments are “turning a blind eye” to those most in need, according to a report published by Save the Children today.
The number of deaths of children in developing countries has fallen but global targets will be missed if developing countries do not focus on helping the poorest communities, the charity warned.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said it was a “global scandal” that children were dying at a rate of one every three seconds.
He promised that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg would push for action at a forthcoming gathering in New York where world leaders will discuss progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Nine million children a year are dying “preventable deaths”, often because of malnutrition and a lack of basic healthcare.
But the figure has been made worse by the trend of “tackling the low hanging fruit”, with many countries guilty of helping richer communities because it is “more convenient”, according to the report, A Fair Chance of Life.
The target set for MDG4 was to reduce the number of deaths of under fives by two-thirds, but so far child morality has been reduced by just 28 per cent since 1990.
Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children International's chief executive, said: “It is a disgrace that some countries are ticking a box' on child mortality without ensuring that the poorest and most vulnerable children benefit equally.
“Nearly nine million children under the age of five die every year - many of them from easily preventable or treatable illnesses - just because they can't get to a doctor or because their parents can't afford food that is nutritious enough to keep them alive.
“Yet many governments are turning a blind eye to these deaths simply because it is easier or more convenient to help children from better-off groups.
“Governments must not be blind to the issue of equity, they must be held accountable for reducing child mortality across all groups in society, regardless of wealth or background.
“Every child has a right to survival and every government has an obligation to protect them. What's more, our research shows that prioritising the poor is one of the surest ways countries will reduce child mortality.”
High rates of death and malnutrition among children can create a “vicious cycle of poverty and vulnerability”, with sick children often paying a “life-long and irreversible price”, the charity said.
Save the Children said a fairer approach could have prevented an extra 323,000 deaths in Pakistan, 260,000 deaths in Ethiopia, 892,000 deaths in Nigeria and 179,000 deaths in Tanzania over 10 years.
More than one in 10 children in Tanzania do not survive to celebrate their fifth birthday. A quarter of those deaths, often linked to malnutrition and infections including malaria and pneumonia, occur in the first weeks of life.
Rachel Pounds, Save the Children's director in the east African country, said: “For a baby to die in the first six weeks is quite normal, it has become a cultural norm. That's shocking, and it's often why newborn babies are not given names straight away.
“There is grief, but it's accepted. We should be saying these deaths are totally out of order. They are a tragedy.”
Tanzania suffers from a lack of properly trained doctors and nurses. There is poor nutrition, a lack of clean water, and a low level of education.
The death rate among under fives is improving, dropping from 147 in every 1,000 in 2000 to 104 in 2008.
But Save the Children says focusing more on the poorest communities could have saved an extra 178,691 young lives over 10 years. The country is classed as making “insufficient progress” towards reaching the global target of reducing child mortality by two thirds by 2015.
Ms Whitbread said: “This is a battle we can win. Even countries with very low incomes can save thousands of lives by making political choices that make sure the poorest families get the help they need.
“But we need world leaders to agree a concrete plan for the next five years that prioritises and protects the world's poorest and most vulnerable children.
“World leaders have a make-or-break opportunity when they meet in New York later this month to get this plan in place.”
Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former administrator of the UN Development Programme, said the toll of preventable deaths was “one of the most pressing development challenges of our age”.
“This is a scandalous waste of human potential, and a cause of enormous suffering to the families and communities that are affected.”
Save the Children's research was launched alongside a Unicef report - Progress for Children: Achieving the MDGs with Equity.
Save the Children urged people to “Press for Change” by joining an online petition at www.savethechildren.org.uk.
The petition aims to put pressure on the Government to lead the call for action against poverty at this month's UN summit.
Reader views (2)
Teach them to stop producing so many kids and the demanded help would be a viable aim. If not, then those kids being saved will produce the same number of kids as their parents did, and so on.
It is something that has to be approached from BOTH sides of the equation, or not at all.
- Rogan, Irving, 07/09/2010 23:57
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In these countries the governments would rather spend money on armies and rockets etc.
There is nothing more we can do to help while these government continue with their barmey military plans.
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 07/09/2010 17:48
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