USAID Accelerates Child Survival Programs
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WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov/Press: (202) 712-4320
Public Information: (202) 712-4810
2004-109
REVISED
December 20, 2004
Contact: USAID Press Office
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new child survival contract to fight needless childhood deaths in the developing world. Supporting families and communities, the $100 million contract will help expand effective child health interventions like immunization, Vitamin A supplementation and treatment of diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria.
"Nearly 11 million children die each year of preventable diseases," said Dr. E. Anne Peterson, Assistant Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health. "We have a major opportunity and a moral obligation to implement low-cost, lifesaving treatment for children in the developing world."
The new contract bolsters USAID's role as a leader in the global Child Survival Partnership, a multi-donor program established to focus attention on the dire health needs of children in developing countries, with the goal of saving six million children each year by 2015.
USAID's child survival agenda has been active since 1985, when Congress created the Child Survival Program. Since then, USAID has obligated more than $5 billion for child survival, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. In addition, USAID has provided more than $2.5 billion to child survival programs in developing countries for maternal and child immunization; prevention and treatment of respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, and malaria; breastfeeding; nutrition, and water and sanitation.
