Category:Book:Development Cooperation Handbook/MDG4

Each year, millions of children die due to lack of hygiene and exclusion from health services.

The number of children dying in the poorest countries of the world is nearly 50 times higher than those dying in developed countries. In a world that has so many resources and means, to allow such massacre to take place is unacceptable.

The MDG 4 aims at lowering child mortality rates. This means to expand care services and address all child health determinants. 

In the world now, majority of the children get vaccinated and indeed the child mortality rates are falling but in sub-Saharan Africa, one in seven children still do not live to see their fifth birthday.

There are still countries like Sierra Leone where governments are unable to provide free primary health services and where the presence of international non-government medical organisations is indispensable for saving lives.