[child-rights] Tracking progress on child survival

NEW YORK, 18 September 2006 -- Political leaders and health experts gather
in New York today to discuss how to prevent the deaths of millions of
children before their fifth birthday.

The Government of Norway, the Lancet and UNICEF are jointly hosting a
Symposium on Child Survival in New York, coinciding with the UN General
Assembly. The symposium will call for stronger health services in
countries with high child mortality, better access to medical supplies and
low-cost health measures to prevent child deaths, and increased government
and donor support for child survival.

Panelists will highlight the fact that few of the countries with high
child mortality levels are on track to reduce under-five mortality by
two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 -- the fourth Millennium Development
Goal. Around 29,000 children under the age of five die each day and most
of these deaths are preventable. Pneumonia alone kills more children under
five than any other disease according to a UNICEF/WHO report launched
today -- two million children under five each year -- more than AIDS,
malaria and measles combined.

"Children are our best investment,” says Jens Stoltenberg, Prime
Minister of Norway "What we do for our children, for the world's children,
more than anything else we leave behind, forms our legacy as political
leaders. For that reason, I call for courageous steps to protect our
children, our common future."

UNICEF and its partners have carried out a focused assessment of key
maternal, neonatal and child survival indicators across the 60 countries
with high child mortality, published in a special issue of the Lancet
today. These countries account for 94 per cent of all under-five deaths
worldwide. The majority have made little or no progress on child
mortality, while 14 countries saw child mortality rates increase between
1990 and 2004. Of the 20 countries with the highest under-five mortality
levels, more than half are affected by AIDS and/or armed conflict and all
have high poverty rates.

However, the assessment also finds success stories, with seven countries
set to reach the 2015 goal: Bangladesh; Brazil; Egypt; Indonesia; Mexico;
Nepal and the Philippines.

"Dramatic gains in child survival within some countries point the way
toward successful strategies that can work on a broader scale," says Ann
M. Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director. "Such strategies include
integrated, community-based approaches that address maternal and child
health, nutrition, AIDS prevention and water and sanitation."

Global health partnerships such as the Measles Initiative have already
helped to halve measles-related deaths in the past five years. The Unite
for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign is mobilizing resources for
women and children living with HIV/AIDS. New tools have the potential to
reduce under-five mortality, including vaccines for pneumococcus and
rotavirus; zinc treatment for diarrhoea; long-lasting insecticide-treated
bednets; new combination treatments for malaria and antiretrovirals to
prevent and treat HIV. Building on the African Union Framework for Child
Survival, such interventions now need to be combined, packaged, costed and
scaled-up as part of a global business plan to reach MDG4.

UNICEF Press release