i Editor's Letter: We are winning the fight against extreme poverty and hunger. It's time to up the ante
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sometimes the world becomes a better place. Today we can celebrate a remarkable achievement: the number of children who die before the age of five is falling faster than ever before, dropping by half since 1990, even though the world’s population is now much larger.
The number of small children who die every year from preventable causes is still appallingly too large to contemplate – 6.3 million, or 17,000 every day. India and Nigeria together account for more than a third of those deaths.
But because of public generosity, political will, the ambitious Millennium Development Goals and growing prosperity in some of the worst-afflicted countries, genuine progress has been made. Millions more kids now survive routine killers like pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles and malaria, because of immunisation, cheap mosquito nets, healthcare for expectant mothers and basic sanitation.
What lessons can we take from this? Well, primarily, setting simple, ambitious goals has worked, helping to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger for hundreds of millions of people. (These goals have been far less successful in giving more children access to primary education, especially girls, and violence against women remains rampant in too many countries.)
The challenge now is to kick on: the UN is trying to get world leaders to agree new targets. They can do so with a spirit of optimism and determination.
****
So here we are. One day of campaigning left. I’ll return to Scotland here tomorrow.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments