Push to curb deaths among children

A campaign aimed at reducing the nine million deaths among children aged five years and below has been launched. World Vision’s new global advocacy campaign, dubbed Child Health Now, has not only been launched in Kenya but also in 99 other countries.

It calls on governments to focus on bolstering family and community-level health interventions. The campaign will involve pressing Kenya and other governments to make child, newborn and maternal health a priority. They are to do this by providing adequate funding, eliminating barriers to healthcare and preventing disease and malnutrition, according to World Vision international global ambassador Dean Hirsch.

“World Vision is calling on countries to develop national plans of action to specifically address under-five mortality ...

“At the same time, we urge wealthy nations to fund the plans in a predictable, well-coordinated and timely manner to ensure that they remain sustainable,” Mr Hirsch told the launch on Tuesday.

The official said the 24,000 children under five who die daily “are a silent emergency” and attributed them to diseases such as neo-natal complications in the first 28 days of life, pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea, HIV and Aids, measles and injuries.

Dr Ayoade Alakija, the campaign’s spokesperson for Africa, urged Kenya and other African governments to ensure they fulfilled the Heads of State Abuja declaration to disburse 15 per cent of their national budget to the health sector.

World Vision is expected to invest $1.5 billion (Sh111 billion) in the next five years to the campaign, which is also aimed at improving health services at the grassroots level.

“If African and other world leaders lend their support, I’m absolutely confident that this campaign will achieve the desired results,” Dr Alakija said.

Mrs Ida Odinga, in a speech read on behalf of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said Kenya’s child mortality rate was still high at 7.9 per cent, with the rate doubling in some marginal areas.

“Child mortality and maternal health are intertwined with other variables such as level of household income, access to healthcare, security, environmental sustainability and diet ...

“At the same time, the effects of hunger start before birth, as malnutrition in pregnant mothers causes problems for children in later life,” Mr Odinga said.

A report released during the launch said there were simple solutions to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.