Child Survival

State of the World's Children 2008: Child Survival >>

Child survival has always been UNICEF's primary mission. In the 1980's, 40,000 children a day were dying from disease before their fifth birthday. Today, thanks in large part to UNICEF, that number has fallen to less than 27,000 a day.

This daily toll for children younger than five is driven by pneumonia, malaria, measles, diarrhea, and AIDS. In about half of these deaths, malnutrition is the accomplice. UNICEF works to prevent unnecessary maternal and child deaths and reduce malnutrition through the use of existing low-cost, high impact interventions such as vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation and insecticide-treated bed nets.

We have also helped develop simple, affordable, and innovative solutions to complicated problems.

A few examples: birthing kits to help women have safe deliveries; oral rehydration salts to treat diarrheal dehydration in children; solar-powered cold storage units to transport vaccines to remote villages and deep-well hand pumps that are both reliable and durable. All of these are now in standard use by many humanitarian organisations, saving millions of children's lives.

And as simple as it may sound, there is almost nothing more important to the survival of young children than help with the basics of sanitation and rudimentary health care for children and mothers. Whether educating a mother in a remote village about postnatal care, teaching basic sanitation, or making sure kids get early health checkups, the results are remarkable.

Our ongoing work to help children in poverty.