In preparation for the May 2012
Child Survival Call to Action conference, the
Center for Global Health Studies (CGHS) at Fogarty, in collaboration with NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), convened a consultation of child survival experts from around the world to bring science to bear on discussions of how to accelerate progress in meeting child survival goals.
Over 20 national and international experts participated in the one-day consultation, which was designed to:
- review overall and cause-specific child mortality as well as current trends in intervention coverage and malnutrition;
- consider a proposed global target for child mortality of 20/1000 live births by 2035 either nationally or among the most disadvantaged within a country;
- and discuss how this target might be achieved through scaling up current services as well as with new interventions.
The consultation participants ultimately agreed that much more could be accomplished to increase child survival and end preventable child death, with a renewed commitment and political will.
Results
In a
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) commentary
Ending Preventable Child Death in a Generation, Dr. Roger I. Glass, Director of Fogarty, Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher, Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and Dr. Robert E. Black, Chairman and Professor, Department of International Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, summarized the consensus of the NIH consultation, arguing that all countries should aim to achieve a national under-five mortality rate of 20 deaths per 1,000 births by 2035, with a global average of 15 deaths per 1,000. According to data modeling presented at the consultation, these are achievable goals, but would require the global annual rate of reduction to double from the current rate. International efforts would need to continue to combat pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, alongside new implementation of interventions focusing on neonatal conditions, such as preterm birth complications, intrapartum complications and severe neonatal infections.
Background
Over the last two decades, global health and development efforts have saved the lives of more than 50 million children, half of them by preventing deaths due to pneumonia, diarrhea and measles. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had planned the Child Survival Call to Action conference as the
2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline approached.
Partners
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at NIH
- U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
- The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Updated March 2016