Photo of a younger CWS Executive Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough– full of hope for the future — joins that of USAID Administrator Raj Shah and hundreds of others on the new “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign website. Join in and post your own wishes and fifth birthday. Photo: Provided
WASHINGTON, DC — Humanitarian agency Church World Service has said it is encouraged by the Monday announcement of a new initiative and commitment by the United States to put global child survival as a top priority.
Following USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah’s announcement of the agency’s new campaign called “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday,” Church World Service Executive Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough said, “We already are enthusiastic supporters of the U.S.-global 1,000 Days partnership focusing on good nutrition for a child’s earliest developmental months, but this new USAID initiative opens its arms even wider to embrace the more ambitious and achievable goal— to end preventable child deaths, especially in the most populous countries.”
Age 5 is considered a milestone birthday, which health experts identify as the indicator that children most likely will survive until adulthood.
In Monday’s briefing at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Shah announced the USAID initiative as part of the agency’s Child Survival Call to Action. The initiative will feature a June 14-15 high-level event hosted by USAID in Washington, at which the U.S. will join with the governments of Ethiopia and India, with UNICEF and with other stakeholders to marshal world actions to end preventable child deaths.
CWS’s McCullough, who will participate in the event, said, “The prospects for this initiative are bold, innovative and promising, as are the announced plans to build in mechanisms to hold countries accountable.”
In its development work in countries around the world, Church World Service has made a priority of the health and wellbeing of vulnerable children. Programs like the CWS Growing Healthier initiative in high-malnutrition regions of Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua combine sustainable food security with small child monitoring and education on nutrition, breastfeeding and other feeding practices.
“The USAID fifth birthday initiative, as discussed by global health policy leaders at Monday’s panel dialogue, has the potential — if its aims are realized — to prevent the unnecessary deaths of 7 million children under the age of 5,” said McCullough.
In part, due to massive world immunization programs starting in 1980, and particularly since 1990, there has been a decline in the mortality rate for children under age five in every region in the world. Yet, emphasized USAID’s Shah, that is not enough.
Shah and those on the panel spoke of making countries and vested organizations more accountable and putting the power, resources and technologies to prevent child deaths in more people’s hands.
Ariel Pablos-Méndez, USAID’s assistant administrator for global health, said that as countries develop they are “framing a new look at health.” He spoke of new vaccines being introduced, mobile health interventions and technology innovations — such as smart phone and tablets that can connect local community health centers with resources — that are opening a path to new ways of delivering health care to remote communities and children.
Pablos-Méndez stressed the need to shift perspective about child health. “It’s not about a disease,” he said, “It’s about the child.”
But, with numerous U.S. and global child-health related initiatives already in action, how would yet another initiative make the leap to reaching the goal of ending preventable childhood deaths, especially at a time when budgets are under scrutiny for mortal cuts?
With even proven programs like the Global Health Fund being eyed for cuts, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Caryl Stern said, “These are not areas we can cut, but until we get angry, that’s not going to happen.” Stern cited the comment on building political will made by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts, pastor of New York City’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, who said that you can’t have a movement until you have angry people in the church basement.
Echoing that view, Michael McCurry, a partner at Public Strategies Washington, Inc., a longtime advisor to the United Methodist Church and co-chair of the Presidential Debates Committee, told the USAID gathering, “There’s not a chance now that this [the issues of saving the lives of under-five-year-olds and the needed funding,] will be debated in September by the candidates… unless there are enough mad people in the church basement.”
CWS’ McCullough said his agency supports and has proof of the efficacy of giving countries and local leaders the capacity to support small child health. In drought- and famine-plagued regions of Kenya, Church World Service iscollaborating with Kenya’s ministry of medical services to provide multi-micronutrient powder (MNPs) supplements to small children suffering malnutrition. After just one month of supplements, the mothers are reporting that their toddlers’ are eating heartily now and have more energy.
Shah announced the “Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday” campaign, featuring social media engagement to build awareness and mobilization as a lead-up to the global Child Survival Call to Action. He is inviting people to post their fifth birthday snapshots and comments on the campaign website.
CWS’s top executive McCullough has posted his own five-year-old photo alongside that of an equally young Shah and hundreds of others. All photos and messages posted will be presented to global leaders in an album and displayed at the June Call to Action event in Washington.