A recent report showed that more than 200 million children under age 5 lack proper health care, resulting in almost 10 million deaths each year.
The ninth annual State of the World’s Mothers, conducted by US-based independent humanitarian organization Save the Children, shows the first-ever “Basic Health Care Report Card” of 55 developing countries.
Together these countries account for nearly 60 percent of the world’s under-5 population and 83 percent of all child deaths worldwide, the report said.
Basic health care was defined as “a package of lifesaving interventions that includes prenatal care, skilled care at childbirth, immunizations and treatment for diarrhea and pneumonia.”
In 30 of the 55 developing countries, less than half of all young children receive health care, including bottom-ranked Ethiopia, where more than 80 percent of children under age 5 do not receive basic lifesaving care.
Four out of five mothers in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to lose a child in their lifetime, according to the report, which found eight of the 10 bottom-ranked countries to be located in the region.
Within the top three out of 55 developing countries ranked by Save the Children, the Philippines, Peru and South Africa were noted to be the top three providers of basic health care. Indonesia and Turkmenistan tied for fourth.
The Philippines has nearly cut its child death rate in half since 1990, said David Oot, Save the Children’s associate vice president.
More than 75 percent of children in the Philippines with diarrhea receive rehydration therapy, compared with 15 percent of Ethiopian children, he said.
Sweden, Norway and Iceland were at the top of the entire list in terms of well-being for mothers and children in the total 146 countries surveyed, while Nigeria was ranked last.
“A child’s chance of celebrating a fifth birthday should not largely depend on the country or community where he or she is born,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children.
“We need to do a better job of reaching the poorest children with basic health measures like vaccines, antibiotics and skilled care at childbirth. These simple measures, while taken for granted in the United States, are not reaching millions of children under age 5, and can determine whether a child lives or dies in poor countries and communities.”
The report recommended that a coordinated global effort was necessary to close the child survival gap between countries. Training of health care workers wouldn’t require high education to master the necessary skills, said the report.
Experts predict that over 60 percent of the nearly 10 million children who die every year could be saved through basic health services from a health facility or community health worker.
The report said that health care programs need to be tailored to the needs of the poorest mothers and children.
“The last mile or kilometer “” the distance between the health clinic and the home “” in developing countries is the most difficult to reach with basic health services,” said MacCormack.
“Yet, to save the majority of young lives lost each year, you need to bring care closer to home, where most children get sick and die.”
The report also called on governments to close the child survival gap by increasing commitments to deliver basic health care, especially to the poorest children, in developing countries, adding that The U.S. share of this commitment, known as the Global Child Survival Act, would help save the lives of millions of newborns, babies and young children globally.
“Each day that we wait to act on this legislation, nearly 27,000 lives are lost. We can do better,” said MacCormack.
“We urge Congress to get behind this legislation and give mothers and their children the chance to celebrate Mother’s Day not only this year, but in years to come.”
—
On the Net:
Comments