Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Every three seconds a child under the age of five dies.  A disproportionate number of them live in the third world, without access to clean water or basic medical care.  A child in sub-Saharan Africa is 500 times more likely to die from diarrhea than an American child. 

The majority of these tragic deaths are easily preventable -- through a combination of clean water, sanitation, improved nutrition, and medical treatment.

The target of Goal Four is to reduce the mortality rate by two thirds among children under five.

Making It Real
Episcopal Relief and Development is one of the organizations that are working to reduce child mortality.  For example, through a partnership with El Porvenir, ERD is building latrines and wells, improving sanitary conditions, and providing hygiene instruction to rural Nicaraguans.  People in several villages are learning to chlorinate their water, wash their hands, and cover their water barrels (where malaria-spreading mosquitoes can breed).

ERD is working in Bijagua, where the Blandon family lives.  Villagers used to carry their water from a nearby stream, in buckets.  People used the stream to bathe, to wash their livestock, and their laundry.  Strained by overuse, Bijagua’s drinking water became contaminated.  The children began to suffer from chronic diarrhea.

Juana Blandon shared the impact that clean water has had on her family: “the project was incredible for us.  We love having a reliable source of water that is clean, and that we know won’t make us sick or leave us with no water without warning.  The children don’t have diarrhea anymore.”

What You Can Do: ACT.
Build awareness about clean water, nutrition, and their effects on child health and mortality.  Submit an article on the subject to your diocesan or parish newsletter, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation's newsletter, or your local newspaper.

Plan an adult education day at your church.  Share information on child mortality and come up with awareness-building activities to spread the message to more people.

For Further Consideration

  • Start raising awareness by educating yourself about Water Issues Worldwide and how water is connected to disease.

  • Calculate Your Water Usage and cut down your consumption of water and other precious resources.  Get your church or your community involved -- and use the activity to open a dialogue about child health and mortality worldwide.

  • Join the Episcopal Public Policy Network and let your local representatives know you oppose factories in your area that pollute water.  There is only so much water on the planet -- and it is already scarce in more than 30 countries across the world.  Polluting water here at home makes less clean water available worldwide.

  • Download the edition of ERD Now dedicated to clean water.

Go on to Goal 5  >>

 
 
How ERD is making a difference...

Countries
We lift communities out of poverty around the world in areas such as Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. We partner with local organizations in the Anglican Communion to ensure vulnerable people have healthy food to eat and get proper health care.

Domestic
We provide critical supplies to people through local dioceses after natural and human-made disasters. We partner with the dioceses to get life-saving aid to children and their families and stay with communities after the crisis to provide ongoing support.





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