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Closing the Survival Gap for Children Under 5 (PDF)
By Save the Children , Ed.
May 2008

Summary: This report focuses on the 200 million children under age five years who do not get the basic health care that they need. This results in nearly 10 million children dying needlessly every year from highly preventable or treatable ailments such as diarrhea and pneumonia. The report shows which countries are doing the best at reaching children with basic health care measures and which countries are doing the worst. It also looks at the survival gaps between the poorest and most well-off children in developing countries, and shows how millions of lives can be saved if children, especially the poorest, receive essential, low-cost health care. The following recommendations are offered to save more than 6 million of the 9.7 million children who die every year from easily preventable or treatable causes: (1) design health care programs to better target the poorest and most marginalized mothers and children; (2) strengthen basic health systems; (3) deliver a basic package of maternal, newborn, and child health care that takes into account the realities for poor people in developing countries; (4) invest in community health care workers to reach the poorest of the poor with essential lifesaving care; and (5) increase government support for proven solutions that save children’s lives. Data from both the industrialized world and developing world shows where mothers and children fare best and where they face the greatest hardship.

Index Terms: Health Care, Maternal Health, Poverty, Research Methodology, Research Reports

Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)

Pages: 56 pages
Language: English
URL: http://www.savethechildren.ca/canada/media/publications/what_we_do/campaigns/SOWM2008_Report.pdf

Availability
Save the Children
54 Wilton Road
Westport, Connecticut 06880
800-728-3843
http://www.savethechildren.org/

 
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