World Health Day 2005 to Focus on Maternal, Child Health

World Health Day 2005 to focus on maternal, child health

GENEVA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) — The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that it is making maternal and child health the focus of World Health Day next year to highlight the invisible health crisis.

In developing countries, pregnancy and childbirth is one of the leading causes of death for women of reproductive age, and one child in 12 does not reach his or her fifth birthday, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters.

Yet, the fate of these women and children is too often overlooked or ignored, she added.

The slogan for World Health Day 2005 on April 7 — “Made Every Mother and Child Count” — reflects the reality that today, governments and the international community need to make the health of women and children a higher priority, she said.

WHO is also to launch the world health report that also dedicated to maternal and child health on World Health Day for the first time ever, the spokeswoman said.

“The real tragedy is that millions of women and children are dying needlessly, and we are failing to act,” WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook was cited as saying.

“We do not need to discover a cure for childbirth complications, or for a little girl with pneumonia. We simply need to apply the knowledge we already have to saving lives,” he said.

The WHO chief pointed out that the health of mothers and children is also key to solving wider economic, social and developmental challenges.

“Mothers and children are the foundation of families, communities and societies. When a mother or child dies, that foundation crumbles. If we want to improve the health of future generations, we must start with the health of mothers and children today,” he said.

In establishing the Millennium Development Goals four years ago, the international community committed itself to reducing maternal deaths by three quarters, and reducing child mortality by two thirds by the year 2015.