UN lauds Brazil for reducing child mortality
September 14, 2013, 2:24 am

One of the primary functions of the MDGs is to reduce child poverty around the world [Xinhua]

According to the report’s statistics, Brazil has been able to reduce child mortality from 62 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 14 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012 – a 77 per cent drop in this period.

The report, 2013 Progress Report on Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed, which lists the MDGs and the global initiatives to meet them, indicates major progress has been made in lowering child mortality in all regions of the world and at all levels of national income.

The eight MDGs are eight commitments made by global leaders to achieve global poverty reduction by the year 2015.

They comprise the push to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empowerment of women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.

These commitments were made at the UN’s Millennium Summit in September 2000. The UN’s member states and heads of governments were present and they agreed to an historical text – the Millennium Declaration.

But the 2013 report says that even bigger gains are needed if the world is to meet MDG4 – reducing under-5 mortality by at least 67 percent by 2015. So far, the global average has seen a 47 per cent decrease.

UNICEF has been touting Brazil for its impressive record – far greater than the global average – as an example for other developing nations to follow. It has lauded Brazil’s advances in public healthcare system, improvements in medical care for expectant mothers and newborns, campaigns to promote breast-feeding, better sanitary conditions, and an increase in immunisation rates, according to the report.

Source: Agencies