New global goals could save 6,500 children a day

New global goals could save 6,500 children a day

As world leaders gather to sign a momentous international development plan at the 70th United Nations Global Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Save the Children urges them to ensure that no child is left behind.

Nearly 35 million children could be saved globally over the next 15 years – or *6,500 lives per day - as a result of strengthening health systems, providing free healthcare for mothers and children, and increasing the number of health workers trained to help sick children.

Building on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000, the brand new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out 17 international targets to be met by 2030.

These include ending extreme poverty, providing better quality education and healthcare for all, ending all forms of violence against children, malnutrition and preventable child deaths by 2030.

‘’We now have a significant and historic window of opportunity to really drive change. World leaders must do everything in their power to ensure that they grasp this opportunity with both hands,’ says Heather Hayden, Chief Executive of Save the Children New Zealand.

We are at a tipping point we could be the generation–the first generation- to end children dying from preventable causes and ensure all children get a quality education.

‘If the SDGs are properly adopted and implemented, they will represent a truly seismic shift in how the world tackles poverty, and will go a long way towards ending the glaring global inequalities that the MDGs began to tackle, but haven’t fully delivered on,’ says Ms Hayden.

Although global efforts to end preventable child deaths have saved tens of millions of lives since the MDGs were set, this overall progress masks major inequalities within countries, with close to two million newborns dying in their first week of life, every year.

Save the Children, part of the grassroots campaign Action 2015, welcomes the SDG’s wider focus on inclusive and equitable quality education, Universal Health Coverage, strengthening health systems and ending all forms of violence against children, in addition to a continued focus on preventing child and maternal deaths.

‘All Heads of States meeting in New York this week must put the children who are furthest behind first; ensuring that no one is being left behind by virtue of their gender, age, disability, income, geography, ethnicity or any other status,’ says Ms Hayden.

ENDS

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