On 31st of October, the seven billionth baby in the world was born in Phillipines. However, 20, 000 children are dying on the same day,mostly from easily preventable diseases like diarrhoea or pneumonia.Global children’s charity says investing in children’s survival can help tackle population growth.
But the children’s charity Save the Children is flagging that investing in improvements which help save childrens’ lives, in addition to family planning and women’s education, can also help slow population growth.
Brendan Cox, Save the Children’s Director of Policy and Advocacy said,“We know there is a real and urgent need to tackle the world population problem. But in the poorest countries, where parents are often worried that their children will die, it’s understandable that some would choose to have larger families. ”
The charity is urging world leaders to invest urgently in healthcare, education and family planning in the world’s poorest countries.
A mother living in Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries, will give birth to an average of six children in her lifetime. The same statistic was true of Botswana in 1982, but after long-term investment in healthcare – which has helped nearly halve child mortality in the past 10 years - the average Botswanan mother now has just three children. In the UK, the average is two.
Nearly 5,000 under fives will die in India on the day the population reaches seven billion – around a quarter of all under five deaths in the world that day.
Brendan Cox, continues, "As we bring child mortality down, we hope parents will feel more confident that most of their children will survive and have smaller families as a result. Stopping children dying is a moral imperative.”
Globally, 7.5 million children still die before reaching their 5th birthday every year. Most will have lived their short lives facing a daily struggle for survival in the world’s poorest countries, where infections are frequent and many families don’t have easy access to a doctor or nurse or other trained healthworker. But progress is being made. The seven billionth baby is more likely to reach the age of 5 than at any point in history. In 1987, when the five billionth baby was born, 1 in 9 children never reached five years old. Today that figure is 1 in 16.
Save the Children says that critical, development investments to help save children's lives, can also have a beneficial impact on population growth.
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