ABSTRACT
Fifty years ago, close to two of every ten children born in East Asia died during their first year of life, and another one of their sisters or brothers did not reach their fifth birthday. The dramatic reductions in the rates of infant and child death achieved in the second half of the last century are a testament to the success of development efforts. Today, fewer than one in twenty East Asian children die in the first five years of life. But there is still far to go. Despite reduced mortality rates, a staggering number of children still die. Two million African infants die each year, and as many again before they reach 5. They would make a line of dead children that would stretch the entire length of the United Kingdom. This figure has not changed in over two decades. That is 10,000 avoidable deaths every day of every week of every month for over twenty years. Every single child death is a personal tragedy. In the words of a father who lost two children, ‘Can you tell me why this had to happen?’ (quoted in Howard and Millard, 1997: 1). There is no answer to that question. It did not have to happen. Yet, another 10,000 African children will die tomorrow, another 10,000 the day after and so on. What needs to change to stop the bodies from piling up?
