"Together we can end preventable child deaths in Solomon Islands"

• Progress in reducing the number of children under five dying  from preventable causes won’t continue unless resources are better targeted at children most in need, new statistics show
• World Vision challenges leaders to count, hear and reach the most vulnerable children
• Aid agency calls on millions of people to join its Global Week of Action and demand change for children

In the past 15 years, the number of children dying in Solomon Islands has fallen by 23 percent but this progress is in danger of slowing dramatically unless the government takes urgent action to reach the most vulnerable children, says World Vision. 

New figures released by the international aid, development and advocacy organisation today find that on current trends, Solomon Islands won’t end the preventable deaths of children under the age of five until the year 2044.

“We’ve all fallen into the trap of neglecting children who are hardest to reach, hardest to save,” says World Vision Solomon Islands Country Director, Mr. Janes Ginting. “This reality is hidden by current statistics, which are based on averages and don’t account for the groups of children who are forgotten, uncounted and unreached – the poorest, those who live in rural areas, ethnic minorities, refugees and children with disabilities.” 

“With the Millennium Development Goals expiring this year and leaders meeting at the UN to discuss the next set of global development goals, we have a once-in-a generation opportunity to accelerate progress and end the preventable deaths of children in the next 15 years,” says Andrew Hassett, World Vision International’s Global Campaigns Director.

“But in order to reach that goal, all children, especially the most vulnerable, must be counted, heard and reached.”

To ensure that leaders do not waste the opportunity to deliver on ambitious goals that will put an end to child preventable deaths, extreme poverty, child hunger and violence against children, World Vision is calling on people to make their voices heard during the Global Week of Action starting today.

In Solomon Islands, 31 out of 1000 children die before they reach the age of five compared to Fiji which is 22 and Vanuatu 18. This means that more than 300 children die each year before reaching their fifth birthday.

 “Globally, some 6.3 million children under age five die each year and 400 million of them still live in extreme poverty today,” says Hassett. “Leaders listen when we speak loudly and clearly, and so we must – for those whose voices continue to go unheard.

“As part of action/2015 - a global coalition aiming to inspire the public to end extreme poverty - World Vision’s Global Week of Action is a unique opportunity to rally millions of people all over the world behind one cause. The solutions to end extreme poverty and child preventable deaths are known, it’s only a matter of political will and action,” says Mr. Ginting.