Maternal and child health
The day your child is born should be one of the happiest of your life. But for many mothers this just isn’t the case. 50 million women give birth every year without professional health support. So sadly, in developing countries the day a mother gives birth is too often the day she dies.
If women had access to basic maternity healthcare 80% of maternal deaths could be prevented. For the thousands of babies who grow up without their mothers’ love and care that could mean the difference between their own life and death.
8.8 million children die every year before their fifth birthday, many because they can’t get the basic healthcare they need. Children need their mothers – this much is obvious. What isn’t so obvious is that it’s the simple solutions, such as training local health workers, that make can make a big difference.
The Robin Hood Tax could raise billions every year to make sure mothers and children get the basic healthcare they need.
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Facts
- One in six children born in Sub-Saharan Africa will not reach age 5.
- Pneumonia and diarrhoea still kill 3.8 million children under five each year.
- Every minute one woman dies in pregnancy and childbirth – adding up to over half a million deaths each year.
- Just 1 more midwife could save the lives of 219 women.
- Over 90 percent of maternal deaths are preventable, yet pregnancy remains a leading killer of women.
- A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive pass the age of 5 years.
