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Washington, DC, United States, 20 April 2012 – Rajiv Shah, Administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will launch an international call to action on Monday to raise awareness of the estimated 7.6 million children who die before their fifth birthday each year from preventable illnesses.
The ask is simple: find a photo from your fifth birthday, or a photo of you or your kids at age five, and share it via The “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” web site and other social media outlets. Photos can already be uploaded here.
Every Child Deserves a 5th BirthdayAgenda: Launch of Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday social media campaign Advances of access to vaccines to children in the developing world Date: 23 April 2012 Organiser: USAID Location: Kaiser Family Foundation Attendees: Amanda Glassman, Director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development; Michael McCurry, a partner at Public Strategies Washington, Inc.; Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID; and Caryl Stern, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Foundation Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy Jen Kates will moderate the discussion Watch live webcast here |
“By asking others to remember their own fifth birthdays, we want to remind people that more than seven million children each year never get the chance to celebrate that milestone,” Shah said.
Child Survival: Call to Action
The “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign will culminate in a huge gathering of global experts in Washington in June called Child Survival: Call to Action.
Despite the huge progress made in the last three decades to reduce child mortality, the gap between rich and poor countries in child mortality is not closing fast enough.
The current rate of 2.6 percent per year means the gap would persist until nearly until the end of the 21st century, Shah said in an email to people working on issues related to child survival.