Part of our 2014 commitments to start the year showing donors how they can ensure a strong start in life for all children.
It’s hard to imagine, in this era of advanced medicine and technology, that something like diarrhea, measles, or plain old hunger could still kill a child. But each year, nearly seven million children will die before their fifth birthday. What’s even more astonishing is how easily such deaths could be prevented.
Existing tools and resources—including simple things such as breast feeding, insecticide-treated bednets, and keeping a newborn baby warm —can prevent up to two-thirds of child deaths when they are available in the right place at the right time. Our new Child Survival Guidance shows how donors can help. It answers questions such as:
- How can you make sure that the impact you seek is meaningful?
- What do we know about what works—and about what doesn’t work?
- How much does change cost- i.e., estimated cost-per-impact?
- How can we identify the organizations best positioned to create high impact?
The toolkit provides exemplar programs in major areas such as malnutrition, malaria, newborn health, and measles. For each program model, we include fact sheets, powerpoints and detailed analyses, as well as what to do next if you want to support these evidence-based efforts. The toolkit also has videos and other links for donors new to this area and seeking to better understand the need and how to address it.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll devote time on our blog to highlighting each of the high impact opportunities described. For those of you eager to take action now, you can access all of the guidance here.