The Guardian
http://www.guardiannews.com/
Accessed 1 September 2012
Time is ripe for breakthrough on child mortality, says senior Unicef official
Unicef doctor says investment now could help meet millennium development goals on tackling child and maternal mortality
Mark Tran
Extract
An inense focus on countries with the highest levels of child mortality combined with the availability of cheaper vaccines and medicines can lead to a development breakthrough, according to a senior UN health expert.
Dr Mickey Chopra, chief health officer at Unicef, the UN children’s agency, said investment now would lead to massive strides in meeting the millennium development goals of reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters (MDG4) and the deaths of children under five by two-thirds (MDG5), both by 2015.
“If we make the kind of investment we need now, which is not huge, we could achieve a ‘man on the moon’ moment,” Chopra told the Guardian. “We have a clearer idea why and where children are dying. Twenty-four countries account for 80% of the deaths. We know where they are dying within those countries. Combined with effective interventions such as vaccines and breastfeeding, we have the potential to reach kids in the most cost-effective manner.”…
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 