children deserve a healthy start 

About 9.7 million children under five die from preventable diseases each year and 99% of these deaths happen in developing countries.

The most common causes of death in young children are pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and measles. Yet, with some simple interventions, most of these children would live.

The risk of death is much greater in children who are malnourished because they are too weak to fight the disease. A third of children in developing countries are stunted or underweight from malnutrition.

More than 500,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes each year, and millions more suffer life-long disability. A child whose mother dies in childbirth is three to 10 times more likely to die before his or her second birthday than a child whose mother survives.

In Australia, around twice as many indigenous infants died before their first birthday than non-indigenous infants in 1999-2004. In the Northern Territory, the indigenous infant mortality rate was at least three times the national average.

Every day, 1,400 children around the world die from an AIDS-related illness and another 1,800 are newly infected with HIV.

Save the Children aims to broaden access to quality health services because children who have a healthy start in life are more likely to reach their full potential.