The target for this goal is to reduce by two thirds the number of deaths in children under five.
Background
Over 10 million children under five die each year from preventable illnesses. These include diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and HIV and AIDS.
Learning from each other
The Community Health Department of St Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi, India provides health, education and development services to 60,000 people in Sunder Nagari, an urban slum in East Delhi and to 18,000 people in ten rural villages of Gurgaon district in Haryana.
In Gurgaon district, nurses and midwives regularly visit every family in the area, providing health education and a constant link to the services available. One simple idea that they have found very effective is to pair up mothers in similar situations. Health workers look out for mothers who are coping well with looking after their babies and young children, despite little money or resources. They ask these mothers if they would be willing for other mothers to visit them in their homes and provide simple training. The health workers then suggest that mothers whose babies have been malnourished or unwell visit these ‘effective’ mothers.
By visiting them in their homes, chatting about their babies and children and helping to prepare food for the children, the mothers learn and observe all kinds of useful information. Sometimes they become good friends. Sometimes just one visit is made. Though this idea is very new, St Stephen’s staff are very positive about how effective it is proving in reducing repeated cases of malnutrition. Learning from other mothers who are living in equally poor or difficult situations, is proving a very effective way of learning.
Main causes of death in children under five years
| CAUSE |
DEATHS |
PREVENTIVE ACTION |
TREATMENT |
| diarrhoea |
22% |
• breastfeeding
• vitamin A from green vegetables
• clean water
• good sanitation and hygiene |
• oral rehydration
therapy would prevent
15% of these deaths
• zinc |
| pneumonia |
21% |
• breastfeeding
• Hib vaccine |
• antibiotics |
suffocation
during birth |
10% |
• training of midwives and traditional
birth attendants |
• newborn resuscitation |
| malaria |
9% |
• insecticide-treated bednets |
• antimalarials |
infection
during birth |
8% |
• clean delivery
• breastfeeding |
• antibiotics |
premature
birth |
8% |
• bednets for pregnant women to prevent
malaria |
• keep the baby warm |
| HIV and AIDS |
3% |
• Nevirapine and replacement feeding |
x |
| tetanus |
2% |
• tetanus vaccine for pregnant women
• clean delivery |
x |
| measles |
1% |
• vaccination |
• vitamin A |