TESTIMONY ON CHILD SURVIVAL BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN
AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON
March 13, 2008
David Oot, Chair of the
On behalf of the US Coalition for Child Survival, as well as
Save the Children, let me also begin by thanking Chairman Payne and Ranking
Member Smith for holding this important hearing. First, let me say a word about the Coalition.
Our Coalition believes it is simply unacceptable that nearly 10 million
children die each year of highly preventable causes – largely unnoticed both
here and abroad. Our Coalition is
committed to educating and advocating for increased attention to this issue,
and specifically dedicated to mobilizing
Our Coalition membership of 40 organizations is diverse - and includes representatives of academic and other technical institutions, student groups, faith-based and other non-governmental organizations. Collectively, our Coalition members represent literally hundreds of years of experience working in developing countries delivering life-saving maternal, newborn, and child health services.
Many of our members represent grassroots American constituents
who care deeply about this issue. And,
how do we know they care? When told by
Save the Children that a simple knitted cap could help prevent hypothermia in a
newborn (an often fatal condition due to loss of body heat), over 20,000
knitters from every State in the
So, what have we learned?
First, these programs work. When we hear about the suffering and death of children in developing countries, many assume that is the way it has always been, that little can really be done about it. That perspective is just wrong. Something can be done. Thanks to the efforts of host governments, non-governmental organizations, donors, and the private sector, progress in reducing these needless deaths has been made. The truth is that if there had been no change in under-five mortality rates since 1985, nearly 17 million children would still be dying each year. Instead, that number is now less than 10 million.
Based on four decades of personal experience – and nearly 20
years living and working in Asia and
Second, proven,
low-cost solutions won’t save lives if they don’t reach those most in
need. The basics must be in place –
trained and skilled staff, equipment, supplies, and critical operating budgets –
to support the delivery of services. In
many countries – especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan
Third, we need to deliver a package of critical services for mothers, newborns, and children – and extend these services beyond health centers to households and communities. We cannot succeed if we do not reach those households and communities where most of these deaths occur – in villages and homes that are often far from any health facility.
Lastly, we need to
focus more attention on newborns since nearly 40 percent of deaths of children
under five occur in that first month of life. In
Clearly, these programs work – and more lives – 6 million more each year - can be saved. But, “business as usual” will not save these lives. We must do much more. Thanks to Chairman Payne, and other co-sponsors of the United States Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, we have an unprecedented opportunity to provide the leadership and resources needed to make this happen.
Together with other developed and developing countries partners,
the
We also applaud the recognition that this is a partnership
involving governments, civil society, and other donor countries. In part due to
the USAID-funded Child Survival Grants Programs, there are now more than 45 US non-governmental
organizations poised to deliver these life-saving programs to those most in need.
Bilateral donors, such as
Finally, the Act authorizes increased funding needed to expand access to these life-saving programs, and the establishment of a system of accountability so that Congress and the American people will know the difference we are making. We want to commend USAID for the recent steps taken to focus on those countries where the need is great and on those interventions we know can save lives. We also want to acknowledge USAID’s commitment to building a transparent system to monitor and measure the results we know are possible.
What It Will Achieve
Using data from a recent expert analysis published in the Lancet medical journal, it is estimated that it would cost about $44 to deliver a package of life-saving interventions to one child each year. Therefore, if we doubled our assistance from $450 million in FY 08 to $900 million in FY 09, we could deliver these services to over 20 million children – and save more than one million young lives. With renewed, strong American leadership, our increased investment would help leverage greater efforts by other donor governments and host governments, thus saving a much larger number of young lives.
To quote Bill Foege, Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, and former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), we need to “change the social norm so that we all
recognize that it is simply wrong for only the few to have access to the tools
for survival because of where they live.”
When we have the tools and resources to prevent these needless deaths,
and fail to act, we are not only failing those we know we can help, we are
failing to live up to the values that we know we cherish as Americans. We know that these programs will be good for
those children – and the parents of those children – who survive, but we firmly
believe that it will also be good for