UN’s new action plan to save 1m African children yearly
By: Chioma Umeha
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) has launched a new Action Plan to eliminate two of the
main killer diseases of children in Africa – pneumonia and diarrhoea.
This is in line with the United Nations (UN) provision which states that
universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa, besides
availability of vaccines and treatments, is critical in ending
preventable child deaths. A joint statement on Thursday, signed by
WaterAid, noted that ending preventable pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths
would save the lives of over one million children in Africa every year.
“Today, UNICEF and the WHO have launched a new action plan tackling for
the first time two of the three biggest killer diseases of children
under five in Africa – pneumonia and diarrhea,” the statement said.
It added; “the plan aims to end preventable deaths of children in
Africa from these diseases by 2025, which would save over one million
lives a year.” WHO’s report noted that both pneumonia and diarrhoea
account for 29 per cent of all child deaths globally, resulting in the
deaths of more than two million children each year. “We already know
interventions that work, such as: exclusive breastfeeding for up to six
months, vaccines, handwashing, drinking water, and appropriate
treatments to name a few. To reduce preventable deaths, children most
affected must have access to these interventions”, the report noted.
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“It is the responsibility of African Governments to embrace and
implement the plan and the cost of inaction and failure will be high and
measured in the lives of the continent’s children. With the support
and assistance of organisations like WaterAid and donors, we can succeed
in ending these preventable deaths,” Gomonda said. He further lamented
that over 600,000 children under five die of pneumonia while more than
400,000 die of diarrhea, annually, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between them,
they account for over a quarter, 28 per cent of all the child deaths on
the continent, he added. The Action Plan calls for a substantial shift
is in how poverty reduction efforts are coordinated in Africa. Aid
programmes need to bring together different areas of work, such as
access to drinking water, health and education, to make them more
effective.
The new plan calls on governments to prioritise investment in the
poorest and least-served population groups. For example, in Africa’s
towns and cities, nearly three-quarters, 73 per cent, of the richest
people enjoy access to adequate sanitation, while for the poorest groups
in these areas only 15 per cent have access. In conjunction with dozens
of development charities, WaterAid has signed a joint statement in
support of the new Action Plan that declares: “We can save countless
lives by using an integrated approach to fighting disease, improving
access to proven interventions and by prioritising efforts to reach the
poorest and most marginalised children. As the latest data demonstrate,
the Global Action Plan on Pneumonia and Diarrhoea provides the most
cost-effective approach and will help achieve the greatest impact in
reducing child deaths.”
The statement offers recommendations for developing country
governments, businesses and donors. The new integrated Global Action
Plan builds on existing commitments and initiatives, such as the United
Nations Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s
Health and Every Woman Every Child; the UN Commission on Information and
Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health; the UN Commission on
Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children; Committing to Child
Survival: A Promise Renewed; the 2012 Declaration on scaling up
treatment of diarrhoea and pneumonia; the Sanitation and Water for All
partnership; the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’
2005-2015; Sustainable sanitation: The Drive to 2015 and the Global
Vaccine Action Plan. The Action Plan is being launched in conjunction
with a new Lancet Series on Childhood Pneumonia and Diarrhoea. The four
papers in the Series provide the evidence base for integrated action on
these two illnesses and include new data on burden, epidemiology,
interventions that work, and the financial cost of ending preventable
deaths from childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia by 2025.
This story was published in Daily Newswatch on April 13, 2013
