Worldwide child mortality falls at expense of disadvantaged children

A report released this week by the international advocacy group Save the Children has revealed that four million child deaths could have been prevented over the past ten years.

The report, entitled A Fair Chance At Life, notes that there is a dangerous trend among many developing countries towards reducing child mortality in better-off communities at the expense of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

“What we have discovered is that in many cases, it’s actually political will – and not money – which is key to helping countries reduce child mortality,” Anna Ford, media manager for the Millennium Development Goals at Save the Children told Vatican Radio.

World leaders are due to meet at a summit in New York later this month to view the progress of the Millennium Development Goals over the past ten years, and look to the next five years.

“They need to re-commit to the goals,” Ford says, “and they need to accelerate our progress so we can save as many children as possible.”