Ending Preventable
Child Deaths:
How Britain Can Lead The Way
Our new report on global child health
Unless we act now, it is currently estimated that 52 million children under the age of five will die by 2030, largely of preventable causes.
Our new child health report, Ending preventable child deaths: How Britain can lead the way, highlights the major health challenges that are hindering progress and that need to be tackled to end preventable deaths of children under 5:
- Limited access to quality primary health care, which is a leading cause of the 7,000 newborn deaths every day.
- Unequal access to vaccines which means that 20 million children still do not receive basic vaccines, and 1.5 million children under five die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year.
- Pneumonia which remains the main infectious cause of death among children under five, responsible for around one in six deaths.
- Malnutrition which contributes to nearly half of under-five deaths, and affects one in three children globally.
- Diarrhoea, which is the fifth leading cause of death among children under five; and unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene that accounts for two-thirds of diarrhoeal disease.
The current situation is unacceptable given we have the knowledge, tools and power to end preventable child deaths. Yet global progress on child survival has stalled largely due to a lack of political commitment and leadership.
Over the next two years, there are a number of critical milestones that will determine whether the world meets the global ambition on child health, or if we fail. This offers the UK Government unprecedented opportunities to lead the way globally, culminating with the UK’s Presidency of the G7 in 2021.
Share our report and sign the petition to call on the Prime Minister to deliver on his manifesto commitment and ensure the UK leads the way in ending preventable child deaths.