Child Health Now

Child Health Now (CHN) is World Vision’s global campaign to end preventable deaths of children under five. Every year in the developing world around 8 million children die before the age of five from easily preventable causes such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria. Malnutrition is an underlying cause in 35% of all child deaths under five. Addressing child mortality means improving the health of both mothers and children. Through Child Health Now, World Vision is calling on the international community to meet its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) commitment to reduce maternal and child deaths by 2015 – specifically: MDG 4, to reduce child deaths by two-thirds by 2015 and MDG 5, to reduce maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015.

Why Child Health Now in Nepal?

Looking beyond the aggregate figures, the national Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) decreased from 48 to 46 deaths and Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) from 62 to 51 deaths per thousand live births (Source NDHS 2011) in Nepal; disparities by gender, caste/ethnicity and geographic locations still exist.

  • Dalits have a U5MR of 90 deaths per 1,000 live births compared with an all-Nepal level of 68.
  • U5MR ranges from 128 in the mountains to 62 per 1,000 live births in the hills.
  • It is higher in the Mid-Western and Far-Western development regions than in other regions.
  • In Nepal 73 percent of births still take place at home, with 55.7 percent of women being assisted by traditional birth attendants and relatives.

 (Sources: NDHS 2011, MOHP 2007, NFHP 2010)

 A reduction in the IMR and U5MR cannot be sustained unless reduction in the neonatal mortality rate is accelerated. In Nepal

  • The most common causes of neonatal deaths are infection, birth asphyxia, preterm birth and hypothermia.
  • Once a child has survived the neonatal period, it is likely to encounter a range of new threats to its survival.
  • Diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection and measles are responsible for many under-five deaths.

 Thus the need for a campaign like Child Health Now (CHN).

What is CHN in Nepal?

The goal of the CHN campaign is to contribute to reducing child mortality in disadvantaged areas of Nepal in line with MDG 4. To help achieve the goal, WVIN will work with communities in Doti and Kailali and relevant stakeholders aiming at the following outcomes:

  • Improved organisational capacity to implement an effective Child Health Now Campaign
  • Improved Maternal Child Health systems and practices of government
  • Improved mobilisation of civil society so as to influence policy affecting the most disadvantaged children
  • Improved community Maternal Child Health practices