World Vision pledges US$3 billion to help end preventable maternal, child deaths

NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2015 /CNW/ - As one of the world's leading aid agencies, World Vision has announced it plans to invest an unprecedented US$3 billion over the next five years to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents globally. This strategy includes a significant focus on health and nutrition programming in humanitarian emergencies and in fragile contexts, where child and maternal mortality is highest.

World Vision will engage its partners, donors and sponsors to financially support this commitment to improve access to health, nutrition, water, sanitation and health for the world's most vulnerable children.

The announcement is part of World Vision's commitment to the second phase of the Every Woman Every Child movement—the first phase was launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in 2010. It is credited with playing a major part in saving 2.4 million women and children from preventable deaths. The movement's Global Strategy 2.0 is being launched today during the Sustainable Development Goal summit in New York.

QUOTES

"This is a key moment in history. If we do this right, future generations of women and children will say: 'This was when the world changed in our favour. Challenging politicians and leaders of business, civil society and faith communities to make bold, concrete commitments to improving maternal and child health caused us to ask ourselves: What more could we do to make a difference?'", said World Vision International's President Kevin Jenkins.

"This is the most World Vision has ever invested in protecting the lives of women, children and adolescents. This investment will amplify our work to address malnutrition, HIV transmission, unsafe water, and killer diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. We will continue to invest more smartly, to foster and share information and knowledge, and to grow partnerships with anyone who believes in ensuring the most vulnerable stay healthy," said Martha Newsome, World Vision's Partnership Leader for Sustainable Health.

"The majority of children that die from preventable causes live in places that are unstable, remote or conflict-affected. Over the next ten years, they will be increasingly concentrated here. As a champion for the health and nutrition of women and children for many years, Canada is well-positioned to leverage the UN's new Sustainable Development Goals and galvanize global support to end preventable deaths," said Chris Derksen-Hiebert, World Vision International's Director of Public Policy.

FACTS ABOUT CHILD & MATERNAL HEALTH        

• The rate of children dying before their fifth birthday has declined by almost 53 per cent since 1990, however 16,000 children are still dying every day from preventable causes.
• The maternal mortality ratio declined by 45 per cent since 1990.
• The number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.

FACTS ABOUT WORLD VISION

• World Vision has trained more than 100,000 healthcare workers, including midwives, in developing countries;
• World Vision is the largest non-government provider of clean water in developing countries, providing water to a new person on average every 30 seconds;
• Between 2010 and 2014 alone, World Vision helped protect 20 million people worldwide from malaria by providing long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets;
• World Vision is currently providing one million HIV infected and affected children with care, support and protection throughout Africa;
• Today's announcement of US$3 billion is in addition to World Vision's commitment from 2010 to 2015 of US$1.5 billion for health, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, water, sanitation and hygiene. That initial commitment was independently assessed, and World Vision exceeded it by US$500 million.

RESOURCES
Video b-roll of child and maternal health activities in Tanzania   http://bit.ly/1KltVtb

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. Visit our News Centre at worldvision.ca

SOURCE World Vision Canada

Britt Hamilton, [email protected], 416-419-1321