Twenty-seven thousand children die every day in the world, according to the report on the State of the world children 2008 published by Unicef. But it is also, the first time in history that the figure of infant deaths does not exceed ten million in the whole year. This is the breakthrough that has presented the United Nations agency for the protection of children. In 1960, the number of infant deaths exceeded 20 billion a year. In 2006, the figure not reached 10 million.
However, 40% of these deaths are preventable, according to Unicef, since it’s diseases for which treatments exist: pneumonia, diarrhea, measles and malaria. Therefore, he appealed to the will of politicians and civil society to join in order to meet the Millennium development goal of reducing by two thirds the child mortality by 2015. Many are the countries that are on track to achieve this objective, but there are regions, such as South Asia, Middle East and much of Africa, which are still far from achieving this. Access to the health, food and education are the ways to put an end to child mortality. There are examples that so it manifest. The program PROGRESSES from Mexico has managed to commit to the poorest families in the country, through financial rewards, to regularly take their children to clinics that support essential health and nutrition services and keep them enrolled. In Mozambique, group care, it educates community educators who offer health education among equals on cheap practices such as the use of mosquito nets impregnated with insecticides, use rehydration therapies or encourage breast-feeding.
Thanks to this project, infant mortality has dropped by 66%. Since 2001, South Africa and Lesotho carried out a program of mother mother who is allowing to control HIV/AIDS among mothers and children. Pregnant women rely on other mothers who adopt a role mentor in the transmission of HIV, fighting the stigma and helping mothers with the disease. India, Benin, Bangladesh, Sudan, Ethiopia are also making efforts with programs of low cost that help improve the quality of life of children and mothers, and will help to reduce deaths during childhood. Integration at Community level of essential services for mothers, the newborn infants and young children, and a series of visible improvements in health systems, could save the life to many of the 27,000 children die every day, explains Ann M. Veneman, Unicef Executive Director. 38% Of the world’s population are less than 18 years. And the world’s more than 2,100 children remain the weakest and least protected against poverty and discrimination. Yet, today, one of every four children lives on less than one euro a day, three million children suffer from AIDS, 20 million are refugees, 100 million are exploited, 150 million are suffering from malnutrition and 120 million children do not attend school. We have the keys and the experience to break definitively the negative trend and show that another world is possible, more just and solidary, also for children. More than fifteen years of the I World Summit to deal with the problems of children of which was the Convention on the rights of the child. Then, leaders of all countries made a commitment to making this a better planet for children. Today is the time to make it reality.
