How Has Rwanda Saved The Lives Of 590,000 Children?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2015
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2000 the world committed to reduce child mortality rates by 2015. At the time, there were on average 90 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births globally. Now there are 46. The UN says that means 17,000 fewer children are dying every day. Unicef has described the improvement as “one of the most significant achievements in human history”. But progress has been uneven. We look at one of the unexpected stars of the race to tackle child mortality – Rwanda – which, between 2000 and 2015, achieved the highest average annual reduction in the under-five mortality rate in the world. How did Rwanda do it? And could other nations follow its example?
(Photo: Children Smiling Credit: Wlablack / Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. BBC World Service. This is Helen the Merriman with the inquiry. |
| 0:47.0 | This week, how has Rwanda saved the lives of 590,000 children? |
| 0:57.0 | It was the largest gathering of global leaders the world had ever seen. |
| 1:05.0 | In September 2000, |
| 1:09.0 | a hundred and forty nine presidents and prime ministers met in New York for the UN Millennium Summit. |
| 1:16.7 | The city was gridlocked as motorcade swept heads of state across Manhattan. |
| 1:22.2 | At the end of the three-day meeting a historic agreement. Eight |
| 1:26.7 | Millennium Development Goals were announced, specific commitment to |
| 1:30.6 | tackle global poverty. |
| 1:33.0 | A deadline was agreed. |
| 1:35.0 | September 2015. |
| 1:37.0 | And now, as that deadline approaches, |
| 1:40.0 | experts are assessing which of those eight goals have been met, |
| 1:44.0 | and there's one in particular that's getting attention. |
| 1:47.0 | Child mortality. |
| 1:50.0 | Because it appears that this is that rare beast, a good news story. Over the past 15 years, child mortality has halved. To give you an idea of what that means, it's 17,000 fewer children dying every day. |
| 2:17.0 | It's an achievement which the UN has described as one of the most significant in human history. We want to know how that's happened and to find |
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