The Lancet series : Child Survival

The world’s forgotten children, Lancet 2003, Issue 9351, 361:1

http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/publications/CHILD_HEALTH/Lancet_CS.htm.

The Lancet Child Survival Series was published in mid-2003 by a group of concerned scientists and policymakers who met in Bellagio, Italy, earlier in that year. It provided new estimates on the numbers and causes of child deaths, and showed that two thirds of the near 11 million annual deaths of under-five children could be prevented by reaching universal coverage with 23 cost-effective interventions. It also argued that major investments in revamping health systems are required for reaching high and equitable coverage. The series ends with a plea for greater investments in child survival, and proposed a rolling conference to be carried out every two years to take stock of progress and to hold international organizations and governments accountable.

The Lancet Neonatal Survival series

Lancet 2005, Issue 9462, 5 March 2005

http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/publications/NEONATAL/Lancet_NSS.htm

In March 2005 The Lancet published a series of 4 papers on neonatal survival highlighting the shocking fact that each year 4 million babies die within 4 weeks of birth. These neonatal deaths now constitute almost 40% of all child deaths under 5 years of age and the Millenium Development Goal for child survival will not be met without substantial improvements in neonatal survival. The authors emphasised that expensive, high tech, intensive care is not required to prevent the majority of neonatal deaths; up to 7 out of every 10 deaths could be prevented if all mothers and babies had access to skilled care and a small number of simple highly cost-effective interventions. However, achieving such universal access will not happen overnight and represents a major challenge in countries where health systems are currently weak. The series discussed strategies, with case studies, to illustrate ways in which countries with weak health systems can make early gains in neonatal survival, whilst building towards the longer term goal of a strong health system in which all mothers and babies have access to skilled care. Finally, analysis was presented of the recurrent additional cost of the interventions proposed once health systems have been strengthened - just over $1 per capita per year - and called for action by individuals, countries and the international community.

World Health Report 2005 - Make Every Mother and Child Count

http://www.who.int/whr/2005/en/

This report says that this year almost 11 million children under five years of age will die from causes that are largely preventable. Among them are 4 million babies who will not survive the first month of life. At the same time, more than half a million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after. The report says that reducing this toll in line with the Millennium Development Goals depends largely on the continuum of care and universal coverage of every mother and every child with well-known and cost-effective interventions, in pregnancy, childbirth, the neonatal period and childhood. The report is accompanied by a set of policy briefs that summarize the main policy implications of the recommendations made. These are available at http://www.who.int/whr/2005/policy_briefs/en/index.html

Resolution WHA 58/31 - World Health Organization

http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58/WHA58_31-en.pdf

In response to the policy recommendations made in the World Health Report 2005: Making every mother and child count, WHO Member States, in the 58^th World Health Assembly held in May 2005, adopted unanimously the resolution Working towards universal coverage of maternal, newborn and child health interventions calling upon governments and partners to commit resources and accelerate national action to achieve the MDGs for maternal and child health.

Delhi Declaration

http://www.safemotherhood.org/noteworthy/lives_in_the_balance.html

In conjunction with the launch of the World Health Report 2005, hosted by the Government of India on 7 April 2005, the Partnership for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health, the Child Survival Partnership and the Healthy Newborn Partnership convened Lives in the balance: the partnership meeting on maternal, newborn and child health, from 7 - 9 April in New Delhi. The meeting involved high-level delegations from 11 countries and resulted in adoption of the Delhi Declaration on maternal, newborn and child health.

UN Millennium Project: Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health
Who's got the power? Transforming health systems for women and children

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/who/task04.htm

The UN Millennium Project is an independent advisory body commissioned by the UN Secretary-General to advise the UN on strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The central thrust of Who's Got the Power? is that dramatic, meaningful, sustainable progress toward decreasing child and maternal mortality is possible, but only with an intense focus on improving health systems, and with a rapid and equitable scale-up of interventions. The authors also highlight the need for: an increased focus on community-based approaches to improve child health; more attention to be paid to child nutrition, including micronutrients; and increased investments in interventions aimed at reducing neonatal deaths.

The State of The World’s Children 2005, Children Under Threat

http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/

Each year UNICEF provides an update on the “state of the world’s children”. The 2005 Report describes the importance of and major threats to childhood including the implications of failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Articles provide a close look at children living in poverty, children caught up in conflict, and children

orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Panels include examples of progress. The Report includes 37 pages of tables containing economic and social statistics on the countries and territories of the world, with particular reference to children’s well-being.

Global Governance Initiative : Annual Report 2005 : Expert Committee on Health

http://www.brookings.edu/gs/research/projects/globalgovernance/report20050124.pdf

The Global Governance Initiative was launched in 2003 by the World Economic Forum to call attention to the appalling gap between global aspirations - as embodied in the UN Millennium Declaration - and actual global actions. The initiative assesses the world’s efforts to achieve its goals through a numerical score on a zero to 10 scale - a 10 being an indication that in the past calendar year, the world did what it needed to do to be on track to reach a given goal. The Initiative's Expert Committee on Health gave the world an overall score of 4 in its 2005 report, relative to the global performance towards reaching the health MDGs in 2004. This report presents the rationale for this unacceptably low score.