I lande som Senegal, Kenya og Rwanda er børnedødeligheden de senere år gået ned med over otte procent om året. Med den fart er børnedødeligheden atter halveret om under 10 år.
Udviklingen sker i u-lande verden over, men på det seneste er det voldsomme fald i børnedødeligheden for alvor ved at tage fart henover Afrika, skriver Kristeligt Dagblad mandag.
I de fleste lande falder børnedødeligheden i dag dobbelt så hurtigt som i 1990’erne og de tidlige 00’er, viser en ny rapport fra initiativet Countdown to 2015 – et samarbejde mellem internationale eksperter, UNICEF, WHO, FN’s befolkningsfond (UNFPA), Red Barnet med flere.
Udviklingen i Afrika går hurtigere end i Kina i de fremgangsrige tidlige 1980’ere.
– Det er forbløffende nyheder for alle, der stadig tror, at Afrika er nedsunket i bundløs fattigdom og død. Dét Afrika er hastigt ved at forsvinde, siger Michael Clemens fra Center of Global Development til The Economist.
Her er presse-meddelelsen om den bemærkel-sesværdige rapport:
GOOD NEWS: Fewer Maternal (mødre) and Child Deaths – But too many women and children still dying
Since 1990, annual maternal deaths have declined by almost one half and the deaths of young children have declined from 12 million to 7,6 million in 2010.
Some of the world’s poorest countries have achieved spectacular progress in reducing child deaths. Rates of child mortality in many African countries have been dropping twice as fast in recent years as during the 1990s.
In Botswana, Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, the rate of decline was on average 5 percent or more a year between 2000 and 2010.
Similar progress has been seen in reducing maternal deaths, although in fewer developing countries: Equatorial Guinea, Nepal, and Vietnam have each cut maternal deaths by 75 percent.
But all the news is not good.
Every two minutes, somewhere in the world, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy and her newborn baby’s chances of survival are very poor.
For every woman who dies, an additional 20-30 suffer significant and sometimes lifelong problems, as a result of their pregnancy.
In these same two minutes nearly 30 young children die of disease and illness that could have been prevented or effectively treated.
Many countries without progress
Many countries, especially in Africa and South Asia, are not making progress.
Of the 75 countries with the highest burden of maternal and child mortality, 25 have made insufficient or no progress in reducing maternal deaths and 13 show no progress in reducing the number of young children who die.
“Global efforts to save the lives of women, newborn babies and young children are not moving fast enough,” says Mickey Chopra, chief health officer of United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and co-chair of the Countdown to 2015 initiative.
“Some countries are showing us what success looks like, but many other countries still have to learn the lessons of those successes,” added he.
Progress on maternal, newborn and child health, in the 75 highest-burden countries, most in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where more than 95 percent of all maternal and child deaths occur, has been laid out in a new 220-page report, “Building a Future for Women and Children”, which is published by the Countdown to 2015 initiative – www.countdown2015mnch.org
“The Countdown report shows the who, what, where – and most importantly the why – of maternal, newborn, and child survival,” says Zulfiqar Bhutta, of Aga Khan University, Pakistan, who is the co-chair of Countdown and an author of the report.
“It offers a clear, consistent report card that countries, advocates, and donors can use to hold each other – and themselves – accountable for real, measurable progress,” noted he.
“A race against time”
The report assesses the progress that the 75 highest-burden countries are making towards achieving UN Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5 (MDGs).
These MDGs (2015 Mål) call for reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters and the deaths of children under 5 by two-thirds, both by 2015 compared to 1990 levels.
“This is a race against time. The pace has picked up, but countries need to make real change happen in the next three years if the world is going to keep its promise to millions of newborns, children, and women,” said Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta.
Countdown to 2015 reports were first published in 2005 to track the progress in the highest-burden countries, to identify knowledge gaps, and to promote accountability at global and national levels for improving maternal and child survival.
Since then, massive global attention and resources have been focused on Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
In 2010, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, an effort that has generated $40 billion in commitments to meet key goals supporting women’s and children’s health.
These goals include more trained midwives, greater access to contraceptives and skilled delivery care, better nutrition, prevention of infectious diseases and stronger community education.
220 partners are on board
Notably, 44 of the world’s poorest countries – among them Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burundi, and Nepal – have now joined the Every Woman, Every Child effort, which takes forward the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.
This brings the total number of partners in this joint effort to 220, with low-income countries committing nearly 11 billion US dollar of their own limited resources.
The Countdown reports help to hold governments and donors accountable for fulfilling their commitments to the Global Strategy, and it will be a key input to the first report to the Secretary General in September 2012 from the independent Expert Review Group.
This group was set up following the launch of the report of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, ‘Keeping Promises, Measuring Results’.
“A commitment that does not translate into concrete programs and services is only an empty promise,” said Ann Starrs, president of Family Care International and an author of the report, adding:
“By objectively measuring progress and identifying gaps, Countdown to 2015 is a critical tool to help civil society advocates make sure that their governments deliver on the commitments they have made to women and children.”
In July, the UK government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will hold a summit to emphasize the need for greater attention to family planning.
In September, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, will issue an update on the impact of his Every Woman Every Child effort.
Key findings of the new report
Læs videre på
http://countdown2015mnch.org/countdown-news/50146-2012-report-fewer-maternal-child-deaths-too-many-still-dying
OM RAPPORTEN:
The 2012 Report, “Building a Future for Women and Children”, high-lights country progress – and obstacles to progress – towards achieving Millennium Development Goals (2015 Målene) number 4 and 5 to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.
It focuses, like previous Countdown reports, on evidence-based solutions – health interventions proven to save lives – and on the health systems, policies, financing and broader contextual factors that affect the equitable delivery of these interventions to women and children.
Country profiles for 75 Countdown countries were published together with the report.
