It’s 19-month-old Osman Abdi’s third day in Save the Children’s stabilisation centre. It all begun with what mothers in this area refer to as a ‘normal cough’, which usually lasts a few days then disappears. But time failed to bring reprieve and Osman broke a fever. Although his illnesses have sucked the little life left in him, there’s a reason to smile.
A visit to the Liberia to see our health programmes in action underlines the importance of expanding vaccination to all the world’s poorest children.
A 2007 national review here found that the knowledge of health extension workers was not sufficient and they could only treat diarrhoeal diseases. So, last year, the Government of Ethiopia rolled out a plan to ensure that every extension worker is also trained in the treatment of pneumonia. This training is now being funded by development partners in support of the government and we are one of the organisations working to implement and monitor this vital training in South Wollo (an area roughly the size of Wales).
Thank you Save the Children and thank you to everyone who supports you. No Child Born To Die tells a profound story. Too many young lives are lost to preventable diseases.
Every time I meet people involved with our work I return home enriched by the stories I’ve heard. Some stories make me smile and some break my heart. On the eve of World Pneumonia day, I remember Sagar.
Did you know that pneumonia is the one disease that kills the greatest number of children under five throughout the world? The greater irony however is that it’s easily treatable. Pneumonia claims 1.5 million young lives every year. The figure stands at 50,000 children in Bangladesh which means 137 Bangladeshi children die every day from pneumonia! It’s a staggering sum.
I just read the latest blog by my friend Genevieve Rasle. While I was celebrating 5,400 lives being saved, she experienced the sheer horror of one life being lost. Reading her post made my hair stand on end.
Go and read it now, then come back.
Ginny’s absolutely right. Every preventable death is a death too many. No child should be dying in 2010 from diarrhoea, measles, pneumonia, malaria. It’s insane.
Almost 10 million children die each year from conditions that are simple to prevent and treat. That’s a huge number, impossible to imagine.
I am at the GAVI Partners’ Forum in Hanoi – looking at how this UN-backed initiative needs to expand access to vaccines and immunisation programmes and to engage civil society in its governance and operations.
