It’s the one thing parents cannot bear to imagine A

It’s the one thing parents cannot bear to imagine - the death of a child. But, in many countries, it's not only imaginable, but likely.

Eight-month-old Jenny with her mother at the Suehn Clinic, Liberia. She was diagnosed with malaria, a big killer of children under the age of five in Africa. We are supporting clinics such as this one to help reduce maternal and child mortality rates.

In 2008, 8.8 million children under the age of five, and half a million women of child-bearing age, died. In sub-Saharan Africa 144 children die before their fifth birthday out of every 1,000 born, and in South Asia it’s 76 per 1,000. This compares with six per 1,000 in the UK.

In Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, one child in four dies before they can reach their fifth birthday, many of them in the first month of life. Most of these deaths are preventable.

A global injustice we have to change

Children die when poverty, poor living conditions, hunger and lack of basic services conspire to destroy lives. They die of:

• basic illnesses, such as pneumonia, when they’re weakened by malnutrition
• diarrhoea, when they can’t get clean water or sanitation
• preventable diseases, when the health system can’t give them vaccinations.

A lack of education for girls means that, when they become mothers, their children are more likely to die. Conflicts and disasters also lead to poor health and high rates of child deaths. We know that influencing these factors will help keep children alive and healthy.

Good health is both an indicator of and a requirement for a country’s development. Communities need their children to survive into adulthood and contribute to its growth.

Children’s right to health

Ensuring children grow up healthy is one of our highest priorities. We’re fighting child deaths, reaching almost 2.2 million children in 21 countries with support to help them access better healthcare and nutrition from 2008 to 2009.

Every day, 1,400 children die from an AIDS-related illness, and another 1,800 are newly infected with HIV. We work to ensure such children are cared for in their communities rather than institutions. We provide advice and social support, and work to increase their access to basic health and education services.