Progress Report Child Survival: A Strategy for the African Region

Abstract

Every year, about 4.7 million children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa die of preventable and treatable diseases including infections, malnutrition and neonatal conditions.1 These deaths account for 51% of global under-five mortality.1 Only five countries2 in the WHO African Region are on track to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4 which is to reduce child deaths by two-thirds from the 1990 levels by 2015. 2. “Child Survival: A strategy for the African Region,”3 was developed by WHO, UNICEF and World Bank and adopted by the fifty-sixth WHO Regional Committee in 2006. The Strategy aims to scale up a defined set of effective child survival interventions including antenatal care, newborn care, appropriate infant feeding, immunization, management of common childhood illnesses and use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs). 3. The fifty-sixth WHO Regional Committee3 urged Member States to develop policies for effective scale up of interventions; strengthen capacity to plan, implement and monitor child survival activities; develop communication strategies; develop effective partnerships; conduct operations research; document experiences and develop frameworks for monitoring and evaluation. The roles of WHO and partners under the Strategy include providing support to countries for scale up, documentation, operations research and facilitation of coordination and collaboration.