Reduce Child Mortality (MDG 4)

Overview

Many childhood illnesses can be prevented through proper nutrition, healthcare, and basic medical treatment. Yet every year, approximately 8.8 million children under the age of five die from preventable illnesses.

In many countries, the major causes of ill health and death among children continue to be malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and a lack of basic infrastructure and access to good quality primary health care. Four diseases―pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, and AIDS―accounted for 43 percent of all deaths in children under five worldwide in 2008. Most of these lives could have been saved through low-cost prevention and treatment measures. Discrimination against women and girls also exists within families, often resulting in boys being given preference for food and access to healthcare, while girls may be denied treatment and care.

While some regions are on track to achieve MDG 4 by 2015, many countries remain behind, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where some countries have experienced increases in child mortality due to HIV/AIDS.

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Canada's Contribution

Canada continues to play a leadership role in child health through CIDA's Children and Youth Strategy and the path dedicated to child survival, including maternal health. CIDA supports work in areas such as:

• Immunization
• Micronutrient supplementation
• HIV/AIDS
• Pneumonia and diarrheal treatment
• Malaria control

Each year, malaria causes nearly one million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five. With support from Canada and other donors, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has financed the delivery of 74 million malaria drug treatments and the distribution of over 88 million insecticide-treated nets to protect families from malaria transmission.

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Contributions from the Canadian International Development Agency and its Partners

Increased immunization coverage: In Nigeria, CIDA contributed to UNICEF's immunization program, strengthening immunization systems in eight northern Nigerian states. This program supported vaccine planning, procurement, security, and distribution. It also supported improvements to the refrigerated transportation system to ensure that vaccines remained potent and effective. Community dialogue activities resulted in increased ownership and participation in polio campaigns.

Better nutrition: Canada is the world's leading provider of vitamin A for developing countries, with more than $300 million in contributions to vitamin A supplementation through UNICEF, the Micronutrient Initiative, and Helen Keller International. This has ensured a steady supply of vitamin A, allowing countries to plan for the delivery, and has dramatically increased global coverage of vitamin A supplementation. UNICEF estimates that over two million deaths have been averted through vitamin A supplementation programs since 1998.

Improved health systems: Through the Africa Health Systems Initiative, Canada supports the implementation of national health sector strategic plans in Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. This funding enables African countries to recruit, train, and retain additional health workers at all levels of the health system and to expand coverage of front-line health services for their populations. In response to the pressing needs in Mali, Canada and Mali recently signed a letter of intent, signalling Canada's renewed partnership with Mali under the Muskoka G-8 initiative to prevent the deaths of thousands of mothers and young children.

Through the Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives, Canada supports country health systems in improving the availability and strengthening the capacity of front-line health workers to accelerate the coverage of life-saving interventions proven effective in reducing mortality and morbidity in children under five and pregnant women. Canadian funding aims to train, equip, and deploy more than 40,000 front-line health workers to provide essential health services, including antibiotics to fight pneumonia, insecticide-treated bed nets to protect pregnant women and children under the age of five from malaria, and rehydration therapy to prevent deaths from diarrheal dehydration. To date, more than 20,000 front-line health workers have been trained and equipped and deployed to vulnerable communities in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

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