Progress towards saving children’s lives. Global EVERY ONE Campaign Report 2013

This annual progress report for 2012 has been prepared as part of Save the Children’s worldwide EVERY ONE campaign to reduce preventable child deaths under the age of five, and achieve United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) to reduce by two-thirds child mortality rates by 2015.

2012 was a major year for Save the Children’s EVERY ONE campaign. Working across more than 80 countries, it brought together governments, community activists, international decision makers, health workers and children and their families to push for the critical changes that can save children’s lives. However, despite this remarkable reduction in child mortality, 19,000 children under five are still dying every day, the majority from causes that could be prevented or treated. These deaths do not strike randomly – 99% of child mortality is in developing countries, and mostly affects children in the poorest families, who often lack access to healthcare and proper nutrition. Whether or not a child survives is not only about income. Whether you’re born a girl or a boy, where you live, or whether or not you belong to a particular ethnic group can be a matter of death.

Moving into its final phase, the campaign will continue to push governments to deliver on their pledge to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five by 2015, and to ensure that every child and pregnant woman is within reach of a health worker, and that there is universal access to quality needed services including newborn care, immunisation, and proper nutrition.