Save the Lives of Children ~ Improve Global Child Health
Every year, nearly 10 million children under age 5 die, mostly from preventable and treatable diseases. Nearly 27,000 children die every day. Pneumonia, diarrhea and complications during childbirth are leading causes of death. Malnutrition is an underlying contributor in over half of these deaths. 98 percent of under-5 deaths occur in developing countries.
Proven, cost-effective interventions can save the lives of millions of children per year. Vitamin A supplementation costs only $0.02 cents for each capsule and prevents blindness and death. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) has helped to reduce diarrhea deaths by half, saving an estimated 1 million lives annually; yet more than 2 million children still die from diarrhea-related causes each year. Essential newborn care-including immunizing mothers, ensuring clean delivery practices, and promoting immediate breastfeeding, immunization, and treatment of infections with antibiotics-could save the lives of 3 million newborns annually.
We can do something to help save millions of young lives, and so can Congress and the new Administration. Members of Congress plan to re-introduce the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, legislation that would lead the way in improving children's health by expanding funding for proven solutions like antibiotics and immunizations. Give these 10 million children a stronger chance to live by urging Congress to support this legislation and by encouraging the next President to increase support for maternal, newborn and child health programs.
- Angela Smith (Activist), Washington, DC
Voting Round Discussion
Voting Results
This idea qualified for the 2nd round of voting and received 567 votes during that period.
We must concentrate on stabilization,
Family Planning for 3rd World Nations
Posted by Roger G on 12/05/2008 @ 05:30PM PT
Thanks for your comment! Spacing pregnancies (family planning) is indeed a health benefit to both mothers and children. One of the interventions in the idea I posted is to promote immediate breastfeeding - the program also promotes exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months (there wasn't enough space to outline the program in greater detail!). This naturally helps space pregnancies and improves the health of the infant.
Posted by Angela Smith on 12/11/2008 @ 12:06PM PT
A health expert on the BBC World Health Debate (view it on http://www.survival.tv/documentaries/world_health_debate.php) noted appropriately that one child born in an industrialized country has a greater negative impact on the environment and world resources than one born in any less developed country. I think it is important to do what is best for poor people and communities according to what they determine they want, rather than deciding for them that they should be having fewer children.
Posted by Phoebe Farag on 12/14/2008 @ 06:17AM PT
We also need health education. This is an essential part of the One Laptop Per Child project. If you would like to work on this, you can join their Health mailing list at http://lists.laptop.org/. Many others are of course working on health information and education, but OLPC is the only program for getting this information to every child and every child's parents.
Posted by Edward Mokurai Cherlin on 12/15/2008 @ 12:11AM PT
I would like to see this include more choices for women in the united states to have more choices in birth choices. Supporting legislation for legalized professional midwives, making out of hospital birth a safer choice for those who choose it.
Posted by amy chavez on 01/06/2009 @ 10:06AM PT