A meeting of ministerial minds
Over two decades, childhood deaths have fallen significantly, from 12 million annually in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010, a statistic that simultaneously gives cause for hope and motivation for the global health community to keep its shoulder to the wheel. “There are still too many preventable deaths,” Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Dean Julio Frenk said Monday. “It is within our grasp to make enormous progress to ensure the survival and development of small children.” Frenk told a gathering of more than a dozen ministers of health from various nations that this is a time of opportunity to make gains in child and maternal health. The reason, he said, is that the 2015 deadline for achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals is approaching, and many nations are realizing they’re not on track to achieve them, which could prompt renewed activity. The ministers gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) Taubman...