Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Report raises alarm over child deaths


via CAAI

Tuesday, 07 September 2010 22:01 Brooke Lewis and Mom Kunthear

Children from the poorest 20 percent of Cambodian families are three times less likely to reach age 5 than those in the top 20 percent, a new global report from the NGO Save the Children has warned.

The report, titled A Fair Chance at Life: Why Equity Matters for Child Mortality, argues that inequitable efforts to improve child health in the Kingdom have actually lead to greater gaps in survival rates between the children of wealthy and poor familes.

Cambodia’s overall progress toward achieving its Millennium Development Goal pertaining to child mortality has also been slower than the average of 31 other developing countries analysed, according to report, languishing behind countries such as Bangladesh which has reduced child deaths at almost double the rate of the Kingdom.

Viorica Berdaga, chief of UNICEF Cambodia’s Child Survival Programme, said yesterday that the government’s National Strategic Development Plan and other plans addressing health “clearly state that equity is a guiding principle”...read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.

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