Call over child mortality action

The majority of people in the UK believe the Government should be doing more to help cut child mortality rates around the world, although many are unaware of the main threats to infant survival, according to a poll.

Diarrhoea (17%), pneumonia (19%) and complications at birth (37%) account for about 8.6 million of the 9.7 million child deaths each year, figures from The World Health Organisation (WHO) show.

But a YouGov survey of 1,510 UK adults, carried out on behalf of Save the Children, shows that just over a third of people believe HIV/AIDS to be the single biggest killer, with more than one in ten attributing malaria as the chief cause of death.

In fact, HIV/AIDS is responsible for only 3% of the deaths, less than measles (4%) and malaria (8%).

Adrian Lovett, Save the Children's director of campaigns and communications, said: "The main two child killers in poor countries are pneumonia and diarrhoea. This clearly comes as a shock to most people.

"We've all suffered from diarrhoea - it's a common childhood problem. For us it's unpleasant, but it's not a killer.

"Yet children in poor countries are dying of it. But for the want of a few pennies to buy the essential rehydration salts they need to replace the nutrients they lose while ill, they could easily survive.

"Millions of people want the rich world to do much more to save children's lives.

"What many don't realise is just how simple many of these solutions are. That's why we want Gordon Brown to join other world leaders and commit to do everything in their power to end the scandal of 30,000 children dying unnecessarily every day."

Save the Children say lack of food is one of the main reasons why children are left vulnerable to diarrhoea and pneumonia, with more than half (53%) of all deaths from diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria attributable to malnutrition.

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