Response on Save the Children's 'Get on track' campaign
3 November 2008
I applaud Save the Children’s sustained hard work over the years in highlighting the tragedy of child deaths in developing countries. The British Government supports their latest campaign for the UN “to get on track” with their goal to cut child deaths by two-thirds by 2015.
Although the number of under-five deaths has declined by 20% since 1990, to a new low of 9.7 million per annum in 2006, this is still far short of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of a two-thirds reduction by 2015. It is simply not acceptable that children continue to die of preventable diseases. Forty percent of child deaths occur in the first days after birth due to a lack of basic maternal and newborn care, the UK wants to see faster progress towards improving the health of children (MDG 4) as well as improving the health of their mothers (MDG 5). These two goals go hand in hand. We are working to improve child and maternal health by strengthening health systems to deliver better health services.
Internationally, the UK Government, along with the health related UN agencies and a wide range of donors, has championed the International Health Partnership (IHP). This focuses on stepping up global efforts to strengthen health systems so that hospitals and health centres have well trained doctors, nurses and midwives as well as the medicines and equipment to do their job. This includes immunisations, antibiotics and mosquito nets for children to protect them from preventable diseases.
The UK also contributes to global initiatives such as the Global Fund to Fight HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and Roll Back Malaria, have helped revitalise interest in childhood diseases and substantially increased the resources directed towards child health.
The work of the Department for International Development (DFID) plays an important role in contributing towards reducing child mortality. Most child deaths are preventable and avoidable with the delivery of better health services. However, the UK’s broader development efforts to enhance economic growth, improve basic services such as water and sanitation and education, address inequality, conflict, civil unrest, child rights and food insecurity, also have a positive impact on improving the health of children.
Despite the lack of progress to date, you will be pleased to know that the recent UN's High Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals in New York on 25 September delivered some really important commitments on maternal, newborn and child health, including from EU member states. These included a Danish commitment to remove user fees for pregnant women and increased funding for family planning services by the Netherlands. The Prime Minister also announced a Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Systems to help save the lives of 10 million mothers and newborns. The finance raised will help to provide over one million new health workers and ensure 400 million extra births take place in a good quality facility. The High Level Event also saw the launch of the Global Malaria Action Plan which included more than $3 billion in commitments to help eradicate preventable deaths by 2015.
I am sure you will agree with me that these commitments offer real hope that we can at last begin to make progress towards achieving MDG 4 and MDG 5 and improve the health and save the lives of millions of mothers and their children.
Ivan Lewis
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development
