U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL CHILD SURVIVAL ACT | Back

The U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act would expand funding for child survival and maternal health programs, require an integrated U.S. strategy for improving child and maternal health, and establish guidelines for child survival programs. With an increase in funding and coordination, children and mothers would receive interventions like vaccinations, antibiotics, and vitamin A that can make a difference between life and death in developing countries.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Every year, 10 million children die before their fifth birthday – that’s one every three seconds – nearly all of them from preventable or treatable causes. Also, more than 500,000 mothers die each year from complications during child birth, and tens of millions more suffer from pregnancy related illnesses and injuries. There are affordable technologies and interventions in existence that would prevent many needless deaths.

The challenge, therefore, is not a lack of technology, but a lack of access to technology. There is a real shortage of health care workers, basic equipment, predictable financing, and infrastructure, and a growing recognition among policymakers that global health programs must be designed in a way that strengthens access to basic prenatal care and prevention measures like vaccines. The internationally agreed upon goal is to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate of children under five and reduce by three-quarters the number of pregnancy-related deaths by 2015. Based on current estimates, meeting this goal by 2015 would prevent the death of 5.4 million children under five and 400,000 pregnant women annually. With U.S. leadership, the prognosis for mothers and young children in the developing world can be a much more hopeful one.

WHAT IT DOES

The U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act would restore our leadership in child and maternal health by:

Establishing a child survival fund to support sustained reductions in maternal and child mortality rates worldwide, and to promote the health and well-being of poor children and mothers around the globe.

• Authorizing $600 million in FY08 and additional increases over the next five years to help reduce child deaths by two-thirds and maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015.
• Requiring the President to develop a comprehensive strategy for reducing child deaths, and submit an annual report to Congress detailing U.S. efforts to promote child and maternal health and survival globally.

RAISE YOUR VOICE

Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act (HR 2266 / S.1418), sponsored by Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Gordon Smith (R-OR). The bill expands current U.S. funding for child survival and maternal health programs abroad, and provide Vitamin A, vaccines, and antibiotics that can make a difference between life and death for children in developing countries.