FROM THE FIELD
A major new survey by Save the Children reveals that people around the globe think it is far more expensive to save millions of children's lives than it really is, leaving world leaders under too little pressure to take action.
As Save the Children launches its biggest campaign to date, it estimates that an additional $40 billion - less than half the amount spent on bottled water each year - needs to be spent annually to dramatically reduce the numbers of children dying needlessly. But the global survey conducted in wealthy and developing countries reveals almost half of those surveyed (48%) thinks it costs at least $400 billion - to make the difference. Not only is it much cheaper to save children's lives than people think, but the majority (68%) still believe that the number of child deaths can be cut - acting as a popular mandate for Save the Children's EVERY ONE campaign, launching around the world on October 5th. At present, nearly nine million young children die every year - often of simple causes like pneumonia, diarrhoea, or lack of a trained midwife. Yet there are proven, cheap and readily available solutions that could prevent or treat illnesses that cause so many deaths. "If people really understood how affordable and feasible it is to prevent these deaths, they'd be shocked. But the pressure to push world leaders to act simply isn't there, partly because of public perceptions that it's too costly to do anything about it quickly. But the public is right on this point: child deaths in poor countries can be stopped, and our campaign is urging EVERY ONE to say so, so that global leaders have no excuse not to act," says Charlotte Petri Gomitzka, Secretary General of Save the Children. Gornitzka added, "In the wake of the devastation caused by the recent typhoons and earthquakes in the Asia-Pacific region, Save the Children knows that children's survival will be under even greater threat. We need more investment from donors to develop better ways to reduce the impact of disasters and save more children's lives." The EVERY ONE campaign is being launched at a critical time for the world's children. Although the poll revealed that across the fourteen countries - including the US, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Nigeria, Kenya, India and Pakistan - the public was optimistic that the international goal of cutting the deaths of young children by two-thirds by 2015 could be reached, the reality is that progress is far too slow. According to the World Bank, the economic crisis alone could mean up to 400,000 extra child deaths every year between now and 2015. Save the Children believes it is now crucial that world leaders and in both wealth and developing countries are held to account for their efforts to put in place the money and solutions to save these lives. According to the survey, people clearly identified poverty as the greatest threat to children's lives. However, those asked in China saw climate change as one of the biggest obstacles whilst Nigeria and Kenya also saw corruption as a stumbling block. Asked what they would sacrifice to save the life of a child they'd never met, the majority would give up at least a meal to save the life of a child, nearly a third of Nigerians said they'd sacrifice a day's pay - whilst Italians were willing to sacrifice a holiday (28%) and 15% said they would sacrifice a new car. Encouragingly, 56% felt that it was equally important to prevent a child's death wherever that child was in the world. Save the Children's EVERY ONE campaign launching in over 40 countries today, aims to realise that vision, by getting the world back on track to meet globally agreed targets on cutting child deaths. The agency aims to ensure world leaders stick to their promises to cut child deaths by 5 million a year by 2015. Gomitzka continued: "This is the most ambitious campaign in the 90 year history of Save the Children. We know what needs to be done - we need to mobilise resources, to invest in healthcare in developing countries, to tackle under-nutrition, and to pay special attention to the plight of newborns, who continue to die in extraordinarily high numbers. But we can't do this alone. Everyone - from world leaders to ordinary families - has a part to play to save millions of lives in the next five years." The Save the Children EVERY ONE campaign launches today with a challenge to world leaders in its hard-hitting policy report, The Next Revolution, which sets out a seven-point plan for saving millions of children's lives each year by 2015. For further information, including interviews with spokespeople, photos, case studies and B-roll please contact Sue Rooks, Advocacy and Communications Manager, International Save the Children Alliance; (T) +1-212-370-2462 ; (C): +1-914-439-9710 or sue.rooks@save-children-alliance.org Notes to Editors:[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
