USAID Commemorates Day of the African Child; Launches Two Decades Report on Child...

USAID Commemorates Day of the African Child; Launches Two Decades Report on
Child Survival and Maternal Health

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In commemoration of the Day of
the African Child, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today
released a report titled Two Decades of Progress: USAID's Child Survival and
Maternal Health Program. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACN044.pdf

Global child deaths have fallen from 15 million per year in the 1980s to 9.2
million in 2008. The Two Decades of Progress report documents this progress
and showcases USAID's contribution to a global partnership that has resulted
in saving six to seven million child lives each year with other donors,
non-governmental, faith-based and community organizations, the private sector,
the United Nations, and host countries themselves.

Twenty years ago, USAID and UNICEF launched the "child survival revolution."
Since then, the American people, through USAID, have committed $6 billion in
support of child survival programs in more than 80 countries. The President's
Global Health Initiative reaffirms this commitment of resources and leadership
to continue improving the survival and health of Africa's children.

"We celebrate this remarkable progress made by some very poor nations to
advance child health," said Acting Assistant Administrator Gloria Steele.
"Americans can be proud that tens of millions of children are alive and
healthy because their tax dollars were wisely and compassionately used abroad.
The challenge now is to build on these successes to save the remaining
millions of children who are dying needlessly."

In maternal and child health, last year Congress provided USAID with a 25
percent increase in funding. In response, USAID began an agency-wide
accelerated approach to increasing the survival of mothers, newborns, and
young children, focusing on 30 countries with the greatest need. Seventeen of
these 30 countries are in Africa, including three of the countries with the
world's largest numbers of infant and child deaths - Ethiopia, Nigeria, and
the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This is an ambitious, yet reachable effort for achieving significant
reductions in deaths by delivering low-cost, high-impact interventions to
prevent or treat the leading killers of mothers, newborns and children under
five.

Overall, the United States is the single largest provider of foreign
assistance in the world. The U.S. Government is also UNICEF's largest
financial supporter, contributing over $2 billion directly to UNICEF since
1985, and a key partner in child survival programs.

USAID's global approach to child survival has focused on development and
delivery of low cost, high impact interventions that can reach children in
poor countries to prevent or treat the most important causes of child death.
Major USAID contributions include:

-- developing "oral rehydration therapy," that can save children
from effects of diarrheal illnesses;
-- demonstrating that vitamin A supplements can reduce mortality among
the
millions of children in countries where diets are deficient in this
micronutrient;
-- proving that children with pneumonia can be saved by antibiotics given
by basic health workers;
-- demonstrating that insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce malaria
illness and death;
-- proving the effectiveness of breastfeeding promotion in protecting
infants and young children from illness and improving their nutrition.

The greatest impact of U.S. investment in child survival has come from support
of programs that bring these and other life-saving interventions to hundreds
of millions of children. USAID's work with developing country governments
alongside UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, other donors,
non-governmental organizations, and private sector partners has contributed to
successes at an unprecedented global scale, including:

-- Almost a billion episodes of child diarrhea are treated with
lifesaving
oral fluid therapy (ORT) each year, reducing child deaths from
diarrheal
disease by more than 50 percent since 1990 and saving more than 2
million children each year.
-- More than 100 million children receive a set of basic immunizations
each
year, and tens of millions more receive supplemental immunizations
against polio, measles, and other diseases.
-- More than 75 million cases of child pneumonia are taken for treatment
by
trained health workers.
-- Malnutrition among children under age 5 has been reduced from one in
three to one in four.
-- The Polio Eradication initiative has saved an estimated five million
children from death or paralysis, and accelerated measles control
efforts have saved two million lives since 1999.
-- Half a million children are estimated to have been saved last year
alone
with vitamin A.
-- Millions of pregnant women and children protected from malaria by
insecticide treated bed nets.

For more information about USAID and its child and maternal health programs,
please visit www.usaid.gov.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development,
have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50
years.

CONTACT: Public Information: 202-712-4810

SOURCE U.S. Agency for International Development

Press Office: +1-202-712-4320