August 18, 2014 marks 500 days to reach the Millennium Development Goals, the set of goals signed into action in September 2000 to reduce extreme poverty in a variety of topic areas from eradicating poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability. MDG 4, or reduce child mortality, laid out a concrete goal to reduce child mortality by two-thirds starting with data collected from 1990. MDG 4 has yet to be reached and experts agree that it won’t be met by September 2015 unless the current rate of child mortality is quadrupled. Even so, work is still being done globally to lower the child mortality rate ahead of September 2015. Child mortality has already decreased by nearly 50 percent since 1990.

According to the 2014 Millennium Development Goal Report key milestones have already been met to increasingly reach MDG 4.

The child mortality rate has almost halved since 1990; six million fewer children died in 2012 than in 1990.
During the period from 2005 to 2012, the annual rate of reduction in under-five mortality was more than three times faster than between 1990 and 1995.
Globally, four out of every five deaths of children under age five continue to occur in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
Immunization against measles helped prevent nearly 14 million deaths between 2000 and 2012.

Every region of the world save sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania has reduced its child mortality rate by more than 50 percent. Based on data in the new Millennium Development Goal report, MDG 4 will not be met until 2028 if the same rate of child mortality reductions remains at current levels. Today 6.6 million children under the age of five die every day, down from 12.6 million in 1990. Most of the current child deaths are a result of preventable causes including the three biggest child killers: pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria.

JOIN US FOR A TWITTER CHAT ABOUT MDG 4

What: Twitter chat about MDG 4

Why: We are lending our voice to a discussion about the current rates of child mortality reductions and will look at how many are working to reduce mortality rates.

When: August 18, 2014

Time: 12 PM EST – 1 PM EST

Who: @socialgoodmoms and members of our community

Hashtags: #MDGMomentum, #MDG500
Photo: Jennifer James