Gates Package — page 542

Still, many individual countries are on track to achieve this target. One of them is Ethiopia, which used the MDGs to drive an overhaul of its primary health care system that has led to a dramatic decline in childhood deaths. Childhood Deaths Declining A combination of vaccines, malaria prevention, and improved newborn health care has helped reduce child mortality globally since 1990--progress that brings the world closer to achieving one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. Sg Se OP AP PwSoo = a ar os eee Sat gt TTT I ll "90 '91 "92 '93 "94 '95 "96 '97 "98 "99 "00 "01 02 "03 04 '05 "06 "07 "08 "09 "10 "11 SOURCE: The World Bank Global Goals, Local Change I remember the disturbing images from Ethiopia of the 1980s when more than one million people died in a famine that swept through the Horn of Africa. It was a tragedy brought to the world's attention by the 1985 Live Aid concert and part of a long period of war, political unrest, and instability for Ethiopians. Their country ranked near the bottom on nearly every key health indicator, including child mortality. About a decade ago that picture started to change--thanks in large part to a government goal to bring primary health care to all Ethiopian citizens. When Ethiopia signed on to the MDGs in 2000, the country put hard numbers on its health ambitions. The concrete MDG goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds created a clear target for success or failure. Ethiopia's commitment to the MDGs attracted unprecedented amounts of donor money to help improve its primary health care services. Ethiopia found a successful model for achieving this goal in the Indian state of Kerala, which had lowered its child mortality rate and improved a host of other health indicators, in part through a vast network of community health care posts. This is one of the benefits s of measurement--the ability it gives government leaders to make comparisons across countries, find ae : Famine, war, and political unrest in Ethiopia who's doing well, and then learn from the best. With jj-p1acca hundred of thoueands of people in the help from Kerala representatives, Ethiopia launched 9806, sparking an outpouring of money and aid its own community health program in 2004. from around the world (Ethiopia, 1984-1985).