Sarkozy baby wins geographic roulette

World Vision has heard the news that President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are expecting a baby this year, and offers congratulations to the family at this exciting time. Baby Sarkozy’s birth in France means he will be far more likely to celebrate a fifth birthday than an infant born this year in the former French colony of Chad. And based on odds that reflect the average realities of birth, a woman in Chad is 150 times less likely to survive pregnancy and childbirth than Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

As G8 leaders gather for this week’s summit in Deauville, their congratulations to the Sarkozys should be coupled with renewed action to tackle the conditions that still lead to 8 million preventable deaths of children under age five each year.

As one of the least developed countries in the world, Chad exemplifies situations that can most benefit from assistance to improve child and maternal health and development. G8 leadership has helped reduce annual preventable deaths globally by an additional 15 million children in 2010, compared with 2004 levels. Support for cost-effective interventions reaching households can dramatically extend those gains.

QUOTES:

“We want all children to have the same chance of survival that the Sarkozy baby will have."

"While the G8 can be proud of their part in reducing child deaths, more than 20,000 children under age five still die each day."

“Amid the happy news that a baby is expected by the Sarkozys, world leaders should be mindful that too many families in developing countries are grieving the loss of their children to preventable causes. The G8 has a chance again this week to extend gains in the fight against child mortality.”

- Robert Zachritz, Advocacy Director for World Vision U.S.

FACTS:

Children in developing countries like Chad most often die from preventable causes that rarely kill children in France or the United States—diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia. An underlying cause is often malnutrition.

• About two-thirds of the 20,000 children a day that die could be saved with simple interventions like better nutrition, mosquito nets and immunizations.
• In France, 4 in every 1,000 children die before age five. In Chad, it’s 209 per 1,000.
• In five countries–Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, and Zambia–child mortality rates have worsened since world leaders in 2000 made a set of global promises known as the Millennium Development Goals.
• France spends $4,966 on health per person, Chad less than $49.

Most French women give birth in equipped health facilities with a doctor who specializes in childbirth, whereas mothers in Chad often go through labor without a skilled birth attendant. Most lack pre-natal care and support during pregnancy and in the critical days following childbirth.

• Chad has the second-highest maternal mortality rates worldwide, with a woman’s lifetime risk of death in pregnancy or childbirth at 1 in 14.
• As many as 80% of maternal deaths could be prevented if women had access to better nutrition, emergency care and a trained health worker during childbirth.
• More than 350,000 women die each year during childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications worldwide. Children who have lost their mothers are 10 times more likely to die.

About World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve the world's poor -- regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information on their efforts, visit WorldVision.org/press or follow them on Twitter at @WorldVisionNews