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Dept for International Development

Answer

Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made against the target of reducing the number of child deaths under the fourth millennium development goal; and what assessment his Department has made of whether the target will be met. [138904] Hilary Benn: Globally child mortality is declining, and between 1990 and 2000 the under-five mortality rate was reduced from 92 to 82 deaths per 1,000 live births. On current trends, however, the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing under-five mortality by two- thirds between 1990 and 2015 will not be met. DFID works with international partners to monitor global trends in progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and their associated targets. Latest United Nations reports suggest considerable regional variation in the rates of progress being made towards the under-five mortality target. Latin America is expected to meet the target, but there has been much slower progress in South Asia, and virtually no progress in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for over half of all under-five deaths. DFID has put the achievement of the MDGs at the heart of its work, and is working with its partners to accelerate progress towards the MDG targets. The targets for both child and maternal mortality in Africa and Asia form part of DFID's Public Service Agreement. Supporting progress in sub- Saharan Africa is a particular priority for DFID. An assessment of progress towards all of the MDGs is provided in the UN Secretary General's 2003 report on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration: http://ods-dds- nv.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N03/481/ 57/PDF/N0348157. pdf?OpenElement.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

138904; 413 c942-3W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Children Death Developing countries Standards Infant mortality

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk