Royal Government of Cambodia, Global Child Survival Partners Pledge to Reduce Child Deaths by Two-Thirds

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (2 June 2004) – Despite encouraging results in some areas of public health, Cambodia needs to urgently address the issue of child survival to combat infant, child and maternal mortality rates that are among the highest in Asia.

In Cambodia, some 63,000 children under the age of five die of preventable causes each year. The main causes are pneumonia (24 percent), diarrhea (24 percent) and neo-natal related causes (34 percent), with malnutrition an underlying cause of 54 percent of all childhood deaths.

The Royal Government of Cambodia, The Global Child Survival Partnership and other development partners have pledged to cut infant deaths from the current 95 to 50 per 1,000 live births, and under-five mortality rate from 124 to 65 per 1,000 live births by 2015.

The pledge came on during a June High-level Consultation on Child Survival at the invitation of His Excellency Senior Minister and Minister of Health Hong Song Huot on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The Asian Development Bank, the European Commission and the Japanese Development Agency (JICA) and others joined the Global Child Survival Partnership – a new alliance that includes United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the British Department for International Development (DFID) and other developing country, multilateral and bilateral partners, non-government organizations and the Gates Foundation – for the Cambodia consultation.

This consultation is an important step in focusing attention on the unfinished child survival agenda, stimulating action by the global community and fulfilling Cambodia’s commitment to child health by eliminating most of the preventable deaths among children by 2015. This will be accomplished by identifying the best options for concerted investment in child health interventions and deliberating on how to harmonize support from external partners.

Cambodia’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (2003-07) and its other sectoral plans and policies are all aimed at improving coordination, financing and delivery of key health and other services that will help reduce the number of child deaths.

“We are at a crossroads and have a major opportunity to improve the health of Cambodian children and their families,” Mr. Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, said. “We have the tools needed to prevent child deaths – they are simply not being implemented on a sufficient scale. If we refocus on the simple, low-tech and doable interventions, we can stop the top killer of children in Cambodia.”

“Child survival programmes represent a unique opportunity to achieve quick and significant public health results,” said Dr. Jacques Baudouy, Director of Health, Population and Nutrition at the World Bank. “But if maternal health is not addressed, our child survival goals will not be reached. It is impossible to separate the health of the child from the mother.”

“With so many competing priorities in global health, it is urgent for all of us to redouble efforts across the globe on the unfinished child survival agenda by reaffirming our focus on mothers and children,” said Dr. Anne Peterson, Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Global Health. “The children are the future of Cambodia."

According to Dr. Jose Martines, WHO’s Associate Director for Child and Adolescent Health and Development, the goal of reducing infant and child deaths is within our reach.

“We need to focus on interventions proven to be effective like antibiotics for pneumonia, breastfeeding, complimentary feeding and oral rehydration for diarrhea. With all stakeholders working together, with the Government in the lead, we can improve the lives of children throughout Cambodia", Martines said.

“The children – the most vulnerable – deserve our undivided attention,” said Dr. Indu Bhushan, a Principal Economist with the Asia Development Bank.

In total, 10.5 million children will die this year – six million from such preventable causes such as diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and malnutrition. Around the world, two million children die each year because they lack access to immunization.

The Royal Government of Cambodia, Global Child Survival Partnership members, in-country partners and the people of Cambodia will work together to bring to scale effective child survival interventions, strengthen the health sector and improve the lives of children, mothers and families.

Some 85 percent of Cambodia's population live in rural areas and are mired in poverty. Access to safe water is limited to 29 percent of residents, and only nine percent have access to sanitation. Some 30 percent of the population face chronic food shortages. Rates of malnutrition in children, as well as anemia in both children and women of reproductive age, are high.

The legacy of Cambodia's tragic conflict has made it very difficult for the government to provide quality health services. As a result, Cambodia has some of the worst health indicators in Asia. Although national immunization coverage has increased in recent years, fewer than 50 percent of children complete the full immunization series. Half of children under the age of five are malnourished, which affects their growth and learning capacity. The maternal mortality rate is among the highest in Southeast Asia.

On Tuesday, the Royal Government of Cambodia demonstrated its commitment to the pledge at the highest level of government when His Excellency Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen met the high-level delegation. During the meeting, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance of child survival.