USAID Administrator Shah Speaks About Child Survival Call to Action

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Wednesday spoke with GlobalPost's John Donnelly about the Child Survival Call to Action, a two-day high-level meeting convened by the governments of Ethiopia, India, and the U.S., in collaboration with UNICEF, according to a post in GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog (Donnelly, 6/13). "The Call to Action challenges the world to reduce child mortality to 20 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births in every country by 2035," a UNICEF press release notes, adding, "Reaching this historic target will save an additional 45 million children's lives by 2035, bringing the world closer to the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths" (6/14).

In the "Global Pulse" blog, Shah spoke "about the need to focus efforts on five countries that have 50 percent of all preventable child deaths," and "said this new effort will not mimic the U.S. global AIDS initiative, which focused efforts on 15 countries, and instead will rely on many governments' commitments to saving the lives of children" (6/13). Shah also spoke to MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell about the Call to Action in this video report, in which he highlighted new technologies that can help avert preventable child deaths (6/13).