Celebrating Our Children’s Survival Rate

ByMichelle Garrett

Earlier this month, Melinda Gates shared what she feels is the most important statistic released each year.  If you’re familiar with the Gates’ foundation, you’ll know that children’s health is one of their passions and it’s no surprise the UNICEF’s Child Survival Report is one that is monitored closely by them.

The good news? The rate of death among children under the age of 5 is steadily declining. Each year, we’re losing less and less of our children before their 5th birthday.

The reality check? There’s still work for us to do to save our children and create healthy and thriving environments for them.

Thanks to immunizations, breastfeeding, family planning, maternal health, fortified foods, and greater access to health care we can celebrate the decrease in the number of children dying at an early age.  The detailed report shows what the leading causes of death are and gives us insight on the areas that we need to continue focusing on to continue this downward trend.

You can learn more about what you can do to improve child survival rates on UNICEF’s interactive progress report.

 

Global Team of 200I’m a proud member of the Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of Mom Bloggers for Social Goodfollow members who focus on maternal health, children, hunger, and women and girls.