Save the Children: State of the World's Mothers 2008: Healthcare out of reach for over 200 million children

A NEW report from Save the Children has revealed for the first time the number of children worldwide who can not get access to health care when they need it. The report, State of the World’s Mothers 2008, says that more than 200 million children under the age of five are missing out on life-saving interventions like pre-natal care, skilled care at childbirth, immunisations and treatment for diarrhoea and pneumonia.

The report ranks the 55 developing countries where 83 per cent of child deaths occur. It shows that the Philippines is performing best with almost 69 per cent of children able to get health care and Ethiopia, where only 16 per cent of children get health care when they need it, ranks last.

The report also highlights the ‘survival gap’ between the richest and the poorest within countries. It says that although some countries are doing a good job of reaching children with basic health care, a closer look shows massive disparities in health care provided to the poorest children compared to the best-off. Top-ranked Philippines does a good job at reaching children under five with basic health care but the poorest Filipino children are 3.2 times more likely to go without basic health measures than the richest. The biggest gap is in Peru, where poor children are 7.4 times more likely to die before the age of five than the richest.

To close the child survival gap Save the Children is calling for a co-ordinated global effort to train, equip and supply more community health workers who can reach the poorest, most marginalised communities. Experts predict that over 60 percent of the nearly 10 million children who die every year could be saved by delivering basic health services through a health facility or community health worker.

Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children’s chief executive, said: “A child’s chance of reaching its fifth birthday should not depend on the country or community where it is born. We need to do a better job of reaching the poorest children with basic health measures like vaccines, antibiotics and skilled care at childbirth. These simple measures are taken for granted in the UK but are not reaching millions of children, and can determine whether a child lives or dies in poor countries and communities.”


ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

· The 2.01am embargo reflects the fact that this report is being released simultaneously in the UK and United States. Please feel free to run the story in print on Tuesday 6 May, but online versions should not be uploaded until 2.01am.

· For further information on the State of the World’s Mothers 2008 report please contact the Save the Children Press Office on 020 7012 6841, or out of hours call 07831 650 409.

· Save the Children is the world’s independent children’s charity. Save the Children UK is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 28 independent Save the Children organisations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 120 countries. For further information about our work please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk.


Kathryn Rawe
Media Manager Asia
Save the Children UK
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7012 6844
Mobile: +44 (0)7767 007 347

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