New global campaign aims to reduce child mortality

The charity Save the Children announced plans to launch a global campaign to reduce mortality among children younger than age 5, the Canadian Press reports (9/30).

Each year, 9.2 million children around the world die before their fifth birthday mostly from preventable or treatable diseases, according to Save the Children. The group hopes the campaign, which starts on Oct. 5, will at least halve that number by 2015 by improving health and nutrition programs, pressuring governments to meet or boost health care funding, enhancing public awareness of infant mortality, and improving fundraising efforts for the charity, the Associated Press reports.

Alberto Soteres, director of Save the Children's Spanish branch, announced the campaign at a press conference in Madrid. According to Soteres, the group hopes to raise $1.8 billion for the five-year campaign (Woolls, 9/30).