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Millennium Development Goals
Goal #4: Reduce Child Mortality
by Laura Amendola
This summer in Columbus, OH, the General Convention of
the Episcopal Church named the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the number one mission priority
for the next three years.
To learn more about the MDGs and the Episcopal Church’s commitment, go
to:
www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE
This is the
fourth installment in my eight-part series on the Millennium Development
Goals. Goal number four is to reduce child mortality. In particular, the
target for this goal is to decrease by two-thirds the number of children
that die before their fifth birthday by 2015.
Here are the facts.
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Right now, nearly 11 million children die before the age of five. In wealthier nations, only about one in 140 children die before the age of five.
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In poor countries, as many as one in 10 children die before age five.
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Children die for a variety of reasons, most completely preventable.
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Increasing access to clean drinking water, improving nutrition, making immunizations available and preventing the spread of malaria through the use of anti-malarial bed nets are all tangible ways to impact child mortality.
“Whoever is kind
to the poor lends to the Lord and will be repaid in full” (Proverbs
19:17). Investing in children’s health is really an investment in the
future and a gift that literally lasts a lifetime.
However, in the time it’s taken you to read to this point 20 children
have died.
So what can you do?
Join:
www.micahchallenge.org A site for
Christians to come together to live into God's call "Do Justice, Love
Mercy, Walk Humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8) by halving the poverty of
our world by the year 2015.
Give: if everyone gave just 0.7% of their gross income we
could achieve the Millennium Development Goals.… Some suggestions for
donations related to child mortality: As always, Episcopal Relief &
Development is a good organization (www.er-d.org).
Another option is the Global Fund for Children’s Vaccines (http://www.unicefusa.org/gavi)
it costs about $17 to vaccinate a child for life.
Learn: A good place to start learning about MDG 4 is the
book: Inheriting the World: An Atlas of Children’s Health and the
Environment published in 2004.
Click: For no cost to you, you can click once per
computer, per day at:
www.thechildhealthsite.com to help
provide vitamins and vaccinations.
Read about the other goals:
Goal #1: Eradicating Extreme Hunger and Poverty
Goal #2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal #3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower
Women
Goal #4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal #5: Improve
Maternal Health
Goal #6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases
Goal #7: Ensure
Environmental Sustainability