Here are some highlights:

Her Excellency Amina Salum Ali: The Day of the African Child marks the third year celebration of good practices in Africa. During the past 5-7 years many countries, including Malawi, Botswana, Libya, and Ethiopia, have seen a reduction in child mortality. If Africa continues in this way, it will be on its way to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. However efforts on the ground need to be strengthened; Africa is capable of even more.

Her Excellency Hawa Olga Ndilowe: Africa has faced many challenges in health care and although there has been progress, more work lies ahead. Over the past few years Malawi has mainly focused on reducing child mortality and morbidity. To do this, the country has adopted three main community-level areas of focus:

• Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS
• Breast feeding: Generally, the recommendation in Malawi is that women living with HIV should not breast feed. This proves to be a big challenge as breastfeeding is usually the most affordable option.
• Increased access to clean water and sanitation, medications and education.

These strategies have been successful. Malawi has witnessed significant improvements in its mortality rates: maternal mortality has reduced from 234 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1992 to 122 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006. In addition, infant mortality has reduced from 134 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1999 to 69 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006. These figures are proof that we have the tools to save the lives of millions of women and children, we only have to reach them.

His Excellency Abdoulaye Diop: Through partnerships with UNICEF and Save the Children, the Ministry of Health is embarking on a national child survival strategy. Vulnerable groups – particularly mothers and newborns – will be a focus of integrated care at the community level. To care for both mother and child, community health care should be strengthened and focused on child immunizations, bed nets, and treatment. The Ministry of Health is eager to strengthen international partnerships, such as with Save the Children, and not only increase the frequency of care, but also the quality.

Gloria Steele: Many advocates have moved beyond rhetoric and into action and are getting results: there is renewed support for maternal and child health care – Congress increased its budget by 25% last year. Additionally, in 2008, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) reached 25 million people in one year alone. However, there is still a long way to go – 50 million children still suffer from malaria. Using resources more efficiently and integrating all our initiatives – including education, food security, and global health – can yield more results. Also, building capacity in these regions, including health systems, will help produce sustainable results.

Liya Kebede: “No woman should die giving life.” 99% percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, and about half of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. and 45% of women in sub-Saharan Africa deliver their babies in the absence of skilled attendance. The death of a mother severely affects the lives of her children: children who lose their mothers are five times more likely to die in infancy, more likely to miss out on life saving vaccinations, and less likely to go to school. Action is important now, especially as the H.R. 1410 Bill: Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Betty McCollum, is on the agenda for Congress.

-Pooja Gupta & Eloho Ovhori

Wall Street Journal: Rising Food Costs Further Pressure World Hunger

-Steve Wilson

This Mother’s Day, along with the usual flowers and brunch in bed, think about how the recent rise in global food prices makes even the simple things in life luxuries for the world’s poor. This jump in prices threatens over 35 million of the world’s children – 10 percent under the age of 5 – putting them at even greater risk of malnutrition. According to the World Bank and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, prices have risen more than 80 percent over the last three years with the price tag for some staples like rice jumping a staggering 141 percent since January.

The present crisis brings me back to a visit that I took to Ethiopia nearly 5 years ago. I was working with a group of women’s health activists from various countries in East Africa and we visited a CARE project in the southern part of the Afar region. More than 300 miles away, in the town of Gode in the Ogaden region (near the border of Somalia), about 1.3 million people were starving as a result of three consecutive years of drought. Many of those most affected were children under the age of 5, who were suffering from diseases related to severe malnutrition – pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and measles. Fortunately, emergency aid helped save countless lives.

Despite recent declines in child mortality, nearly 27,000 children still die every day from largely preventable and treatable causes like pneumonia, diarrhea, and complications during the first day to year of life. Malnutrition is at the root of half of these deaths. When food prices rise, this situation becomes even more desperate. Already the United Nations, the U.S. and other governments, the private sector, and civil society worldwide are taking steps to help by increasing emergency food aid and working to enact longer-term solutions to bring down energy prices, make greater investments in agriculture and increase demand, and address climate change.

Changing policy, utilizing best practices in public health, assuring clean water, sanitation, and nutrition for the world’s children can only be accomplished through enhanced coordination and accountability of child survival health programs. The Global Child Survival Act of 2007 will ensure that all aspects of government aid like food assistance, vaccination delivery, and basic health care services are better coordinated.

Today mark Mother’s Day with the best gift of all – life for the world’s children. Write your member of Congress and ask them to support the Global Child Survival Act. The legislation would streamline the delivery of antibiotics, vitamin A supplements, and vaccines while improving accountability and coordination. It would also provide funds to help save the lives of as many as two-thirds of all children who die in Ethiopia and around the world, many of them from malnutrition or conditions aggravated by undernourishment.

-Liz Creel, US Coalition for Child Survival

Although I have worked in healthcare for more than 30 years, I didn’t know the depth of the crisis of poor sanitation and dangerous water. I was shocked at these statistics when I came to the US Coalition for Child Survival in 2006.

In 2005, I paid a visit to the Children’s Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan has one of the worst infant, child and maternal mortality statistics in the developing world. Although improvements have been made in the last few years, there continues to be a crisis there. When I visited Children’s Hospital of Kabul, I found that each day nearly 1,000 children come to the clinic seeking help. The hospital, at that time, didn’t have clean water or working sanitation. Babies were sharing incubators and the food was horrible. Many children showed up due to malnutrition, dehydration and illnesses related to unsafe drinking water.

I saw so much pain in the faces of the children and families during my two weeks in Kabul.

Creating safe drinking water and making it accessible to children and families is not rocket science. We’re not waiting for any new inventions or technology. The cost is low and the results are truly life-saving. Access to clean water and sanitation can help prevent Diarrheal Disease, one of the leading causes of death among children under 5. Read our fact sheet and learn more about the causes, solutions and success stories. Download our fact sheet at here.

You can make a difference and the support of the ONE Campaign has already generated more than 200,000 letters to Congress to support the Global Child Survival Act. Our website has all the information and details on the causes and solutions to the global child survival crisis.

You can also learn more about safe drinking water here. Watch the flash program and get all the facts!

-Andrew Barrer, Executive Director, US Coalition for Child Survival