Approximately 1600 children under 5 years of age die every day in the Western
Pacific Region from common preventable and treatable conditions including
diarrhoea,pneumonia and perinatal events. Many of these deaths are associated
with undernutrition. Vaccine preventable diseases and injuries further contribute
to this high number of childhood deaths.
The Millennium Development Goal 4 of the United Nations Millennium
Declaration calls for a reduction by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015,
of the under-5 mortality rate. An analysis of the progress in the Region shows
that the achievement of the goal will prove challenging for many countries if
mortality reduction continues to stagnate and preventable and treatable causes
of childhood mortality persist.
The WHO/UNICEF Regional Child Survival Strategy outlines a unified
direction to accelerate and sustain action towards achieving the national
targets for Millennium Development Goal 4, and to reduce inequities in child
survival, particularly in areas of greatest need. The strategy was endorsed
by the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific at its fifty-sixth session
in September 2005