New Delhi: The child mortality gap between the rich and poor nations have been widening even though there is 41 per cent decline in child mortality rates over the last two decades, says the report by Save the Children, a non-governmental organization (NGO).
The report titled ‘A Fair Chance at Life’ says that the policies for reducing child mortality focuses only the children from better-off communities and ignore the under-privileged.
The report further states that 4 million child deaths could be averted over a 10-year period if the 42 developing countries which account for 90 per cent of all under-five mortality took an ‘egalitarian approach’.
In sub-Saharan Africa, one child in seven die and this shows that there is no much improvement in the mortality rates. In general, only 3.5 million children are saved from death before reaching the age of five compared to the past few decades.
The gap is very much evident in India also. In Kerala, the child mortality rate is 14 per 1000 births wherein it is 92 per 1000 and 91 per 1000 in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively.
The report says that the key to saving more lives is to focus on nutrition, sanitation and women's rights. There is also a need to provide universal health services to mothers – the report highlights innovative programmes in Indonesia and Bolivia. It calls on donors to provide the cash to enable the charity to implement such schemes.
