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I’ve been starting to notice one of the more striking things about the campaigns surrounding the Millennium Development Goals; and that is, the emphasis on preventable deaths with simple solutions. Fighting poverty as a whole is a multi faceted task, but when you break it down into the eight millennium development goals, and then break those down further into small grassroots operations, you can see how many of the solutions to big problems are, and must be, simpler than you might imagine.
This video and accompanying background brief from Save the Children, offers an open, frank analysis of the situation regarding child mortality (MDG4). Almost 9 million children under the age of 5 die every year, and yes it is beyond shocking that this occurs, because they are preventable deaths.
In the UK, when a child dies in a hospital or because they had to be put on a waiting list for treatment, or simply couldn’t afford it, we are scandalized by the incompetence of the system. The media then berates the government for operating an ill funded system that has become complacent in saving lives.
The outrage comes from the value we place on every child’s life, and the fear that if your child should fall ill, they could be subjected to the same treatment. It is not the fault of one individual, but a failure of the system. If the treatment exists, then it should be readily available, particularly to children, because their welfare is our collective responsibility.
Save the Children outlines five elements to tackle child mortality, all of which need to be addressed at the MDG summit in September. Each country needs a national plan that is viable, and includes proven treatments for common problems like diarrhea. Most people in the UK have travelled abroad at some point and understand that diarrhea can be deadly if it is chronic or if you cannot rehydrate.
We also need to focus on nutrition. Again, the emphasis is on preventable deaths. There is enough food to go around, and so all the children who are dying of starvation are a consequence of poorly distributed resources. It is due to gender inequality in some cases. Girls are in certain cultures are more likely to be deprived of food, in order to feed the men in the family. This is something world leaders must address.
The fourth element that will improve child mortality, is holding governments to account for the systems in place. It is often because of corruption that food is unequally distributed. If we check the government, the government will be forced to check the systems. Which of course, costs money, but if leaders in the Global North give the money they initially pledged, this will not be a difficulty.
It is not a scientific miracle that is needed. We already know how to cure tuberculosis, we know how to treat malaria. The solutions just need to be better coordinated so that they reach the people who need it.
It is heartbreaking to hear of the death of a child, not only because it is someone’s son, daughter, brother or sister, but because they are innocent. They are entangled in a world of bureaucracy and systems before they can speak, and they die because of the consequences of policy failure. There is so much capacity to fix this, it simply needs to become a priority, to leaders, and to us normal folk.
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