UK exclusion of children from global health plan ‘illogical and inefficient’.

The proposed government strategy focuses on mothers and newborns up to 28 days old, but does not include the millions of children who die after the first month of life. Of the almost nine million children who die before the age of five each year, 55% of them are older than one month. This means the deaths of nearly five million children are outside the focus of the government’s new plan.
Save the Children’s head of health, Simon Wright, said: “The UK government is departing from the global consensus which clearly state that maternal, newborn and child health must be tackled together.   Separating these services out is inefficient and does not make economic sense. Integrated health services improve efficiency, are more user-friendly and reduce travel costs of those using the service.
“Child and maternal mortality are completely interdependent . When children have a better chance of surviving, women have fewer pregnancies which lowers the risk of them dying.”
Save the Children highlighted that African leaders meeting at the AU summit in Kampala have listened to global advice and have today announced renewed commitment to tackle maternal, newborn and child health together.
Simon Wright continued: “While the African Union is clear about tackling child and maternal mortality together, the UK appears to be backtracking on the global consensus. The UK has previously championed an integrated approach to global maternal, newborn and child health and the Coalition Government agreement even talked about “maternal and infant” health. It is worrying that they are moving away from this approach. The UK government should include children in this strategy.”
The children’s charity did welcome many elements of the British government’s announcement, particularly the focus on family planning and maternity services.
Simon Wright said: “Reproductive health is a badly neglected area of development which has a high impact on maternal and child mortality. It’s encouraging that the UK is championing this area, especially as other countries are squeamish about issues such as abortion.”
“The decades-long lack of attention to essential maternity services, like having a skilled health worker at the birth and effective postnatal care, has been a disgrace and this strategy could definitely help to rectify that. These core services have been neglected as donors have preferred tackling one disease at a time.”     ENDS
For more information or an interview with Simon Wright please call Save the Children’s press office on +44 (0)20 7012 6701 or out of hours on +44 (0)7831 650409.