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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why are children dying and what can we do about it? Find out more about Save The Children's ambition for the EVERY ONE campaign.
Download FAQs [PDF 1.47mb]
Every year millions of children die from treatable diseases. Save the Children has launched an ambitious five-year campaign to end this injustice, but we cannot do it alone.
HOW MANY CHILDREN ARE DYING EACH YEAR?
- 1.7 million children die in their first day of life.
- Three million die within one week.
- Four million die within their first 28 days.
- 8.8 million die before their fifth birthday.
WHY ARE CHILDREN DYING?
The underlying causes of child deaths are poverty, inequality, exclusion, weak governance, violent conflict, the global political economy climate change and natural disasters.
A small number of treatable or preventable diseases are the direct cause of almost 90 per cent of deaths of the under-fives. Problems during pregnancy, birth and care in the first few days of life account for 17 per cent of all child deaths. Pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and measles together account for 38 per cent of child deaths. HIV and AIDS account for 3 per cent.
WHAT ARE WE CALLING FOR?
- We want urgent action. Governments and other donors need to more than double their spending on basic healthcare and increase spending to combat malnutrition.
- All developing countries should have credible, national plans to tackle child mortality. Donors must ensure no plan is allowed to fail simply because of lack of resources.
- We want to generate more funding and create a greater number of programmes to focus specifically on what it takes to make newborn babies survive.
- We must prioritise the training of 4.2 million health workers in the poorest countries.
Read the Statement of Support from UN Special Rapporteur on Health Anand Grover [PDF 35kb]
DOWNLOAD OUR CAMPAIGN REPORT:
The Next Revolution: Giving Every Child The Chance to Survive
EVERY ONE - The Save The Children Campaign Report
The Next Revolution [English PDF 868kb]
La Siguiente Revolucion [Spanish PDF 768kb]
La Prochaine Revolution [French PDF 755kb]
A Proxima Revolucao[Portuguese PDF 1.08mb]
Executive Summary [PDF 109kb]
