Italy is working on behalf of children and combating child mortality throughout the world. Our country has jointed UNICEF’s “A Promise Renewed” project to become the 128th country making a renewed effort to hasten the decline of child and maternal mortality. A further aim is to help even more countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015. The call to action was made in Washington in June 2012 by the governments of Ethiopia, India and the United States. With UNICEF, they have invited the world to take action for an ambitious but achievable goal: ending avoidable child deaths.
7.6 million children die each year before their 5th birthday
Each year, 7.6 million worldwide die before their 5th birthday. Ending preventable child deaths means, first, giving children a healthy start by providing pregnant women with quality antenatal care and nutrition, and protection from disease during pregnancy. The latest data published by UNICEF, in September 2012, see Angola, for example, with 158 under-fives dying for every 1000 live births. This high mortality rate is the result of widespread diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, which cause 60% of cases, as well as the scourge of malnutrition.
