Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic, 9 May 2006— Steps are underway to intensify child survival actions in the Western Pacific Region, where some 3000 children under five years of age die each day. Most of these deaths, often associated with undernutrition, are from preventable and treatable conditions.
Interventions to address these conditions, such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, are widely known and their cost-effectiveness proven. However, these measures often do not reach those in greatest need.
As part of the response to this situation, a three-day workshop on child survival, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), opened here today to officially launch the WHO/UNICEF Regional Child Survival Strategy.
"With simple medical interventions, many of these child deaths could be averted," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. He called for long-term commitment, investment and cooperation, and urged governments to place child survival higher on the political, economic and health agenda. "For that to happen, we must make sure that there is political will at all levels of the government, starting from the very top," he said.
The child survival strategy provides sustained action towards achieving national targets as set by the Millennium Development Goals, that is, to reduce by two thirds the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015.
The strategy focuses on the implementation of an essential package for child survival that covers seven intervention areas:
- skilled attendance during pregnancy
- care of the newborn
- breastfeeding and complementary feeding
- micronutrient supplementation
- immunization of children and mothers
- integrated management of sick children
- use of insecticide-treated bednets in malaria-prone areas.
Participating in the workshop are government representatives, specifically from the six priority countries with the highest burden of childhood deaths: Cambodia, China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Viet Nam.