The global child mortality rate has dropped from 17 million in 1980 to 7.6 million in 2010. While this is remarkable progress, the fact that nearly eight million children will die this year due to causes that are largely preventable and treatable is unacceptable and the world is still off-track to meeting its goal of reducing child deaths by two-thirds by 2015.
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Tom Arnold, CEO, Concern Worldwide with the Ambassador of Ireland, Michael Collins |
On Wednesday, June 13th, Concern Worldwide U.S. hosted a launch event for its new learning paper, “
Reaching the Most Vulernable: New Frontiers in Child Survival,” which details specific lessons and recommendations from Concern’s 14 years of experience implementing child survival programming in six countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Hosted at the Irish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, DC, the event included remarks from Tom Arnold; the Ambassador of Ireland, Michael Collins; Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson; and USAID Child Survival and Grants Program Team Leader, Nazo Kureshy.
“Concern is committed to finding innovative ways to achieve results that will benefit the most vulnerable,” said Tom Arnold, CEO of Concern Worldwide. “We constantly strive to learn from what we do and to share that learning with others. We hope that this booklet, the product of reflection, action and learning over the past 14 years, will contribute to better practice and policy, resulting in fewer deaths and healthier children.”
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Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson speaks with Nazo Kureshy, Head of the USAID Child Survival and Health Grants Program |
Held on the eve fo the
Child Survival Call to Action summit , the event also reinforced that strong action must be taken now to prevent uneccesarry child deaths. Hosted by the Governments of the Untied States, India and Ethiopia in Washington, DC June 14th and 15th, the high-level summit drew some 700 world leaders to harness new actions and investments to protect the health and wellbeing of mothers and children across the world and ultimately save lives.
USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, recognized the impact that Concern’s child survival programming made with the support of the American people. “Concern’s report features programs, innovations, and results—including our experience in Rwanda—that span more that a decade of work at multiple levels of health and communities systems…Even more important, this report details important lessons we can learn from as we chart the way forward in child and maternal health.”
You can help Concern, USAID, and others save the lives of children by participating in the campaign, “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday.” To learn how you can get involved, please visit this site.
Or, share this infographic with your friends via Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about how we can beat malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition, and the other major illnesses that claim the lives of nearly eight million children this year.