Global Child Health

Donna Denno, MD, MPH* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. State the current annual number of child deaths globally and percentage of these deaths occurring in developing countries. 2. List the seven leading causes of childhood deaths worldwide and the interventions recommended by international guidelines to prevent these deaths. 3. Be aware of the percentage of childhood deaths that could be prevented through widespread implementation of these interventions. 4. Describe Millennium Development Goal 4 and progress toward its achievement. 5. Discuss the socio-political-economic factors and policies that affect child health. 6. Identify specific ways in which child health professionals in the United States can affect child health globally. Each year, millions of children die, the vast majority in poor countries. Tragically, most of these deaths are preventable with technologies that are currently available and recommended for universal implementation. Progress is being made: 8.1 million children younger than the age of 5 years died in 2009, down from 12.4 million in 1990. Unfortunately, rates of reduction in child mortality are much less than what can be accomplished realistically with available technology. Furthermore, progress lags far behind what was expected when 189 nations committed to reduce poverty and improve health and development via the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs consist of eight specific goals, including MDG4, which explicitly relates to child health and aims to reduce child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. The world is not on track to meet MDG4, although several developing countries are demonstrating that substantial improvements in child health can be made by focusing on making key lifesaving interventions available to children who need them the most. This article explores the scope …