Nobel laureate urges help to save children under-5

ABU DHABI: A group of eminent personalities, including Nobel Laureate Dr Ferid Murad, former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Deputy Director for Ethiopia Dr Solomon Zewdu have called upon the world to come forward and help save children under the age of five in under-developed countries who are killed mostly by entirely preventable diseases.

Speaking at a panel discussion held on the side line of the 7th International Oncology Conference in Abu Dhabi, which concluded on here today, they said that children under-5 are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases like malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, HIV and tuberculosis.

Dr Murad said that children between five and ten years of age are at the prime. This is the best time to introduce them to subjects like science, mathematics and other subjects. It is a critical time. But many countries have difficulties and don’t have the resources to achieve it.

“You have to start at a young age. There is need to do more in under-developed countries, although they have come a long way in the last 15 years,” he said. Despite being entirely preventable and treatable, common infectious diseases are still killing young children in large numbers. Pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria were responsible for approximately 29 per cent of global deaths among children under the age of 5 in 2018. Children in the world’ s poorest regions are disproportionately affected, with infectious diseases particularly prevalent in sub-saharan Africa.

Former prime minister of canada stephen harper recounted the success of Muskoka Initiative under his leadership to improve the health of mothers and children in the world’s most impoverished nations. He expressed gratitude to various governments as well as non-governmental organisations and corporate houses for funding this initiative.

As Chair of the G8, Canada made maternal, newborn and child health a priority for the G8 Muskoka Summit held in June 2010. This initiative was focussed on improving the services and care needed to ensure healthy pregnancies and safe delivery, and placing a particular emphasis on meeting the nutritional needs of pregnant women, mothers, newborns and young children.