Child mortality
We failed them
Is this what we will be saying in 2015 about the millions of children under the age of five who continue to die of preventable disease in situations of extreme poverty?
This week the (Australian) Northern Territory’s Minister for Children and Families admitted he will have to tear down the system for protecting Aboriginal children from abuse and neglect and start again. He described it this way in a Sydney Morning Herald report:
“The department has been demoralised … we are now going to rebuild from scratch and we have to leave the old ideologies [of child protection] at the door.”
His was a startling admission of failure. In the three years since the biggest federal intervention in 50 years of government in the territory, agencies are struggling to come to terms with endemic mistreatment of children.
Can we as a global community really reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 from a 1990 level? Is the seemingly impossible possible?
If not – if we can’t achieve this – it represents yet another “great moral challenge of our time” which we are impotent to act to change. Failure is not an option.
A 5th Birthday Party Should Not Be A Luxury
On Tuesday I heard two talks which supported the International Women’s Development Agency, or better known by its acronym IWDA.
Rosaria Martin da Cruz from HIAM Health in Timor Leste spoke at both events. She is an articulate woman who was able to paint a picture of life in Timor Leste, and how that was so different to what people might experience in Australia.
The first talk was a lunchtime gathering- it was small and intimate, and really showed the benefits and strengths to be found in partnerships.
The second event was an evening gathering which was well stage-managed and more a series of well connected sound bites presented from World Vision. I preferred the intimacy of the lunchtime discussion.
Some speakers at the evening gathering made some excellent points, and spoke from the heart. Questions around why are the most vulnerable forgotten. Questions asking us what we were going to do about it.
The global figures for child mortality were appropriately described as “a shocking violation of childrens’ rights” by Louise Baur, Professor and Deputy Associate Dean of Paediatrics and Child Health at The University of Sydney. “We all have a more responsibility to help”.
Michael Dibley, the Associate Professor in International Public Health at The University of Sydney argued that children are the living messages to be sent forth to the next generation. A really important point.
The Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir who is also the Chancellor of The University of Sydney spoke strongly “in her capacity not only as Chancellor, Governor, medical professional, but also mother and grandmother”. She argued that experiencing a fifth birthday party in Australia was not a luxury, but was so for too many children particularly in Africa.
Even looking at the child mortality figures between Timor Leste and Australia shows how unacceptable this huge gap really is: 97 deaths per 1,000 children under the age of five in Timor Lester compared with a ratio of less than 5 deaths per 1,000 children in Australia.
We need to build bridges to become better informed. These bridges will help to close this gap in small ways by increasing our awareness and our capacity to act. Money alone is not the answer.
The Governor went on to make some startling comparisons:
When you consider that over 6 million children die each year from pnuemonia and diarrhoea, diseases we readily have the prevention for, the cost of which is less than a postage stamp per child, how can we continue to make 5th birthday parties an occasion to be a luxury for only some to enjoy?
Consider that Harry Potter books have been translated into 67 languages, yet we still lack the ability to distribute oral hydration- are our priorities wrong? Do those people not count?!
Her summary? A blunt and disappointed observation: “Not good enough.”
Winning the war against child mortality
The Loveable and Avuncular Hans Rosling returns to give another outstanding TED Talk about how we are winning the war against child mortality.
Hans is a brilliant communicator and makes the complex simple. This 15 minute is worth watch to move beyond theory and understand how progress has been made.
Sheryl WuDunn: Our century’s greatest injustice
Women and girls aren’t the problem. They are the solution.
A story about turning oppression into opportunity.
Take 18 minutes to watch this TED video from Sheryl WuDunn‘s talking about her book “Half the Sky” investigating the oppression of women globally. This is an unapologetic and shocking story.
Thanks to Tiffany for sharing this video.
Benjamin
This morning I met Benjamin for the first time. He is less than 20 days old and the son of good friends Dave and Janet. Everyone is happy and healthy. Benjamin is a beautiful baby.
Dave is a doctor, and I took some time to ask him about how things in his life have changed since the arrival of Benjamin. We also talked about the distinction between how wonderful medical care is in Australia, compared with what might be expected in what is referred to as a ‘developing country’.
How fortunate we are to experience almost very low child mortality and excellent maternal health. Dave was explaining how easy and cheap it would be to save so many life through simple interventions relating to hydration and hygiene. Simple things we take so much for granted that we don’t even think twice.
During the week a friend related a story where apparently in parts of Sudan the prevalence of child mortality was so high that new born babies are not given names.
I am thankful for Dave and Janet that things are different for Benjamin. How long will it be before child mortality and maternal health become taken for granted by almost everyone on earth?
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Building Bridges 