Call to action for child survival

On Wednesday the Government of Ethiopia convened a meeting of African Ministers of Health and global experts to reduce preventable child deaths through sharper national plans and improved monitoring and evaluation.
The African Leadership for Child Survival – A Promise Renewed conference, follows last year’s Child Survival Call to Action, which was co-convened by the Governments of Ethiopia, India and the United States with UNICEF and launched a global roadmap to end preventable deaths of children under five.
The Call to Action challenged countries to lower their national rates of child mortality to 20 or fewer deaths per 1000 live births by 2035. Under the banner of Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed over 165 countries have since pledged to scale up efforts to end preventable child deaths.
The African continent shares a significant global burden of newborn, child and maternal deaths. Of the 3.5 million such deaths per year in Africa, more than 1 million are newborns. But some African countries such as Libya, Mauritius and Tunisia have already reduced their under-5 mortality rates to below 20 per 1000 live births.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Kesetebirhan Admasu said: “We are at a crucial juncture in our final sprint towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goals and the 2035 vision of ending preventable child deaths. Much will depend on country-level leadership and action on child survival.
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah provided a clear message to participants: “Your leadership and dedicated focus is an essential part of this unified effort. It is wonderful to see so many countries gathered together to focus on how to sharpen national plans and develop scorecards to strengthen monitoring and evaluation. The work you are doing will continue when you return to your capital cities—and USAID stands ready to support you.”