Every Child’s Right to Health

700,000 children under the age of five have died this month. Most would have survived, just if the basic health care taken for granted in rich nations would have been available to them. Almost all lived, and died, in poor countries.

The solutions are known and available, but are not reaching those who need them. A few diseases, like pneumonia, measles and diarrhoea are the biggest killers of young children today causing more than 90% of deaths in children under five.

The Global Movement for Children runs a campaign to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015.

Key question

If, as evidence suggests, the main causes of child mortality are known and can be relatively cheaply implemented, then why is progress in reducing it so slow? We believe that child mortality is not high enough up the public agenda in most countries.

What needs to change?

Government in poor countries should place child survival and basic health care on top of their agenda, as some countries are doing with very positive results. This implies improving the allocation of resources to health care and nutrition.

Donor countries should, on their side, increase spending on basic health care and nutrition in developing countries.

How can the campaign achieve this?

These changes can be achieved by:
(a)    Engaging middle classes and key influencers in pushing for better healthcare for all children: ensuring they are well-informed and aware of the reality oin their countries, and providing opportunities for engagement for middle classes and key influencers to create the enabling environment for government to implement the policy changes required.
(b)    Engaging the direct beneficiaries in strengthening the demand for delivery of effective interventions to improve child health: This is because health services are failing poor people. This is not due to lack of knowledge for preventing and treating illnesses but rather by the fact that health systems are trapped in a web of failed relationships of accountability. The GMC campaign will catalyse constructive and organised engagement of local communities and children in negotiating with bureaucrats and politicians would increase the chances of effecting positive change towards meeting the child mortality target.

Key statistics

• Major killers of children under five:
  -    Pneumonia: 19% 
  -    Diarrhoea: 17%
  -    Malaria: 8%
  -    Birth asphyxia: 8%
  -     Measles: 4%
  -    HIV and AIDS: 3%
  -    Tetanus: 2%


• Percentage of under-five deaths related to under-nutrition: 53%.
• 60 countries accounted for 94% of all child mortality.
• Highest regional U5MR: West & Central Africa, 186 per 1,000.
• Highest national U5MR: Sierra Leone, 282 per 1,000.

First phase (2009-2010)

In 2009, the GMC started testing its approach related to engaging middle classes and influencers in four countries: India, Kenia, Mali and Zambia. In 2010, the campaign focuses on four additional countries: in Asia, Cambodia; in Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria, and in Latin America, Bolivia.

With the support of TNS/Gallup GMC is conducting surveys in the abovementioned countries. The surveys attempt to measure awareness of child mortality as well as willingness to act in order to reduce it. People often do not know how serious the situation is. Giving them the information will probably push them to act. These surveys aim to test these assumptions and generate insights for the development of the campaign. The first outcome of the campaign, a report on the results of the survey in the eight countries mentioned above, will be presented in early summer 2010.

From there, the GMC and its partners will work together to implement a communications campaign to ensure action from governments in the South and the North.