Click: USAID campaign puts spotlight on child mortality

A 5-year-old girl named Ziba from Konarak in Iran. The U.S. Agency for International Development has launched a campaign called, "Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday," to raise awareness on child mortality. Photo by: UNICEF Iran / CC BY-ND

Each year, seven million children die before they reach age 5. How do we prevent that?

Nicole Schiegg, senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said vaccines, bed nets, ready-to-use nutritional supplements, antiretrovirals and bag masks can help address the leading causes of preventable deaths in the developing world. But uploading your fifth birthday picture may also do the trick.

The idea is part of the “Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday” awareness-raising campaign by USAID and other development partners. The campaign, launched Monday (April 23), aims to bring the unjust reality of child mortality on the spotlight.

The campaign has already gathered quite a following. The fifth birthday album currently has 298 pictures, including those of USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan and U.K. Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell.

The pictures, along with the posted messages, will be presented at the international development community at the Child Survival Call to Action event in June. The high-level forum will try to identify high-impact child survival strategies and smart investments that will help end preventable child deaths around the world.

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About the author

Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo

Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex senior reporter based in Manila. Since 2011, she has covered a wide range of development and humanitarian aid issues, from leadership and policy changes at DfID to the logistical and security impediments faced by international and local aid responders in disaster-prone and conflict-affected countries in Africa and Asia. Her interests include global health and the analysis of aid challenges and trends in sub-Saharan Africa.