Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday
By Ellen, GSK,Global Head, Neglected Tropical Diseases
Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday
By Ellen, GSK,Global Head, Neglected Tropical Diseases
I've always loved music, and when I was 5 years old, I heard a song that became a theme for my childhood: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I still believe that.
A 5th birthday should be a joyous occasion--one to be celebrated with family and friends. It's an important time in a child's life. They start school or begin to establish the person they will grow up to be. But tragically, more than seven million children die every year before they reach their 5th birthday, many from preventable causes.
Over the last 50 years, we have made incredible progress in the reduction of child mortality, with child deaths reduced by 70%. This result is largely due to the availability and increased use of high-impact tools and interventions for child survival, notably new vaccines and better access to basic healthcare at a local level. At GSK, we're committed to playing our part by making sure our medicines and vaccines are accessible to the children who need them through our generous donation programs and partnerships with groups such as UNICEF and GAVI, and by investing to develop new treatments where needed.
We are also involved in partnerships to bring simple interventions to rural areas--such as GSK and Save the Children's collaboration on the PHASE program to teach children to wash their hands, significantly improving their chance of fighting serious diseases. And, we recognize that even in developed countries there are patients without access to the care they need, so we fund programs like the Children's Health Fund to provide healthcare to underprivileged and homeless children across the US.
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