WHO: Greater Efforts Needed to Reduce Child Deaths
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Press Release
WHO Western Pacific Region Public Information Unit
15 September 2003
The World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that the Millen-
nium Development Goal of reducing by two-thirds the "under-five"
child mortality rate between 1990 and 2015 will not be achieved
unless more intense efforts are made to save the lives of mil-
lions of children that would otherwise be lost.
"We need to deviate from business as usual mentality, and speak
with one voice. Strong political commitment and additional re-
sources are needed," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director.
He called for a new drive to target financial and human resources
for child survival, and urgently scale up interventions that fo-
cus on the major threats to children's health. "We must put chil-
dren and mothers from poor and marginalized populations at the
centre of our efforts and reach those in greatest need". Strong
international partnerships are needed to halt the widening gap in
childhood mortality among countries and areas in the Region.
From the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s, global childhood mortality
dropped from 210 per 1000 live births to 78. In the Western Pa-
cific Region, the decrease was even more significant, with under-
five mortality declining by almost 70% during the same period.
However, over the past decade, there have been no significant im-
provements, with childhood mortality no longer decreasing in many
countries, and even increasing in some. Currently, more than one
million children die each year in the Region before reaching the
age of five. "This means approximately 3000 deaths every single
day," Dr Omi noted.
IMCI, an evidence-based tool for child survival, focuses on the
most common causes of childhood deaths, such as pneumonia, diar-
rhoea, measles, malaria, dengue hemorrhagic fever and malnutri-
tion. To date, IMCI has been introduced in 12 countries in the
Region, and in more than 100 countries world-wide.
"Most childhood illnesses are preventable and treatable. Rela-
tively simple interventions are effective, and many childhood
deaths could be averted without investing in new technologies or
clinical research. By focusing on proven and effective interven-
tions, more than 60% of child deaths could be prevented."
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