Notre Dame Virtual School        REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY INTRODUCTION http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/child_mortality/en/index.html Nearly 10 million children under five die every year. Almost 90% of all child deaths are attributable to just six conditions: neonatal causes, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS. During 1960-1990, child mortality in developing regions was halved to one child in 10 dying before age five. The aim is to further cut child mortality by two thirds by 2015. Reaching the MDG on reducing child mortality will require universal coverage with key effective, affordable interventions: care for newborns and their mothers; infant and young child feeding; vaccines; prevention and case management of diarrhea, pneumonia and sepsis; malaria control; and prevention and care of HIV/AIDS. In countries with high mortality, these interventions could reduce the number of deaths by more than half. WEBSITES (Excerpts from the websites appear below) http://www.un.org/pubs/cyberschoolbus The CyberSchoolBus is a global teaching learning project offered through the United Nations.  There are several links on the site related to the Millennium Development Goals. Recently the CyberSchoolBus was selected by ISTE (International Society of Technology Educators) author James Lerman as one of the best web sites for teachers on the Internet. The direct link the Millennium Development project is found at: [Link]http://www.un.org/pubs/cyberschoolbus/mdgs/index.asp [Link]http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/38.htm We're working flat-out to right the fundamental wrongs that affect children. Too many children are still dying because they haven't got enough food or because they can't get treatment for simple illness. Millions aren't getting and education and are being exploited and abused. This is not good enough. We're changing this, partly by working directly with children, and partly by using our experience and influence to persuade governments and others who are responsible for children to do the right thing by them. We seek out the most marginalized children, wherever they are in the world, so that means we work in a really broad range of countries, from fragile states like Afghanistan, to developed countries like here in the UK. We work closely with our colleagues in the International Save the Children Alliance,  both in our programmes with children and in our international campaigns and advocacy work. We have high ambitions for what's achievable for children - we aim to inspire dramatic change for children and to involve them in creating that change. We'd like you to get involved too. http://www.undp.org/MDG/GOAL4.SHTML In 2006, for the first time since mortality data have been gathered, annual deaths among children under five dipped below 10 million. Nevertheless, the death of millions of children from preventable causes each year is unacceptable. A child born in a developing country is over 13 times more likely to die within the first five years of life than a child born in an industrialized country. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about half the deaths of children under five in the developing world. Between 1990 and 2006, about 27 countries – the large majority in sub-Saharan Africa – made no progress in reducing childhood deaths. In Eastern Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, child mortality rates are approximately four times higher than in developed regions. Disparities persist in all regions: mortality rates are higher for children from rural and poor families and whose mothers lack a basic education. PROJECTS and RESOURCES http://8goals.ca/site/ideas http://www.8objectifs.ca/site/?q=node/87 The above site provide opportunities to organize events around the 8 Millennium Development Goals. Organizing activities and actions on major action days has many benefits. That's why the 8 Goals Campaign holds its flagship actions on specific days during the academic year. From February 1 to 7 we will celebrate the International Development Week. Visit the website to know more about this Canadian week of education and action. On important national or International days, or when you sense a window of opportunity on the political scene, media or during election campaigns, for example, you can: Chalk your campus with the 8 Goals Set up information kiosks at campus events Organize a student debate on development issues related to the Goals Organize a concert (to raise awareness and/or money) Put educational, eye-catching posters around your school Invite experts to speak with students about Goal-related issues Host a hunger banquet Get sponsored to live on $2 a day Host a fair trade fashion show Organize peaceful marches or mass demonstrations Create public symbols (like using a crowd of people to form a giant “0.7%”) Tie white bands (white is the international symbol of the fight against poverty) in visible places or encircle a building with people in white If you have organized a unique~activity~to champion the Millennium Development Goals or any related issue like human rights, fair trade or~global citizenship and want to share it with other students in Canada, please write to us at: info@8goals.ca. ARTICLES [Link]http://www.unv.org/en/news-resources/resources/fact-sheets/unv-and-the-millennium-development-goals/doc/unv-and-mdg-4.html Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require the ingenuity, solidarity, and creativity of millions of ordinary people though voluntary action. Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people all over the world. Six billion people have something to contribute. Recognizing this fact is the first step on the road towards harnessing this vast resource in a global effort to meet the MDG targets. Every year, nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday, well over 1,200 every hour of every day. Virtually all of the fatalities (99 percent) occur in poor countries, mainly from easily preventable or treatable illnesses. Working primarily at local l level with a range of development partners, the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme supports activities aimed at the successful promotion of public health care policy, strengthening institutional capacity for effective service delivery, fostering community participation and ownership, and raising awareness on critical health issues. [Link] http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/mdgs/goal.asp?iGoal=4&iLang=en&iKeyword=anim "It is not in the United Nations that Millennium Development Goals will be achieve.  They have to be achieved in each country by joint efforts of the Government and people." Former Secretary General Kofi Annan of United Nations The CyberSchoolBus provides resources for teacher and students to put action plans on how they can implement the Millennium Development Goals. SND EDUCATION PROJECT The Sisters of Notre Dame from across the congregation have constructed a prayer-study-action program. Each section includes references to sources, websites, and further information about the goal and what others around the world are doing to reach it. [Link]http://notredameonlinenews.wikispaces.com/UNMDG The pdf file on MDG #4 can be found in this Unit.