Shot@Life

On a recent trip to the Philippines, I spoke to a young mother of four, Carla, who walked down a rugged mountain for 4 miles to get her youngest child (a 23-month boy) vaccinated and to get routine shots for her 4 year old girl. The foothills of the mountain had many open shaded areas for healthcare workers to set up tables, and coolers. “The trip down is easy,” she said. “It is the trip back up when I have to carry more than one of my children for one and a half hours going up that is tough. I get really tired”

I was awed by Carla’s strength but also by her perseverance to make the trek despite the obvious difficulties. All because she knew the vaccines could protect her child.  Like all mothers, she knows all about protecting the lives of her children.

The world has been working together on a similar uphill climb to fight preventable childhood deaths and protect newborn and young children’s lives. The trek has not been easy but the results are quite amazing. The new numbers are in from UNICEF and UN agencies on ending childhood mortality in developing countries. And there is good news and inspiring news for vaccine-preventable deaths and childhood survival overall. The good news is that according to UNICEF, childhood mortality is on the decline. The lives of 48 million children under the age of 5 have been saved since 2000 largely due to increase access to interventions such as immunizations.

The Millennium Development Goal #4 was to cut the death rate of children under-five by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. The rate fell by 53 percent, according to a report released by UNICEF last week. The report essentially tells us that children are half as likely to die before their fifth birthday now than they were in 1990. In fact, the measles vaccine alone has helped avert more than 15.6 million child deaths between 2001- 2013.

Now here is the inspiring news that will hopefully propel us to take action. Despite the progress made, only 62 countries have reached the MDG 4 target of a two-thirds reduction in under-5 mortality. There are still 16,000 children under the age of 5 who die every day. There is a lot of work still to be done.

Did you know that we are setting new goals to achieve more progress in ending childhood deaths? The MDGs set collective goals for ending preventable child deaths, and later this month, the world will build on their progress at the UN General Assembly to adopt the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, Ban-Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General is set to launch a new Global Strategy for Newborns’, Children’s, Adolescents’, and Women’s Health to focus energies on every woman and child ‘s right to survive and thrive.

These new goals will challenge developing countries to bring rates of under-five mortality down to 25 deaths (or fewer) per 1,000 live births, which could save an additional 38 million children under-5 by 2030.

Did you know that most under-5 deaths are preventable? Of the 5.9 million under-5 deaths in 2015, almost half were caused by leading infectious diseases and conditions such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, meningitis, tetanus, measles, sepsis, and AIDS – all of which could be prevented or treated with proven, cost-effective interventions. The UN Foundation campaign, Shot@Life provides easy ways that you can get involved by advocating or donating to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.  

Mothers like Carla are part of our success on the global goals. Our journey to reach our collective ambitions to protect children remind us that ending vaccine-preventable deaths is attainable and well worth the uphill climb.

Join us at shotatlife.org to learn more.