Population Council Research that makes a difference

4. Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five

More than 10 million children under the age of 5 die each year in the developing world. Children born in low-income countries are 13 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children born in high-income countries. The Population Council conducts research to find ways of improving the lives and health of infants and children.

In the town of Navrongo in rural northern Ghana, for example, scientists at the Navrongo Health Research Centre teamed with researchers at the Population Council in the mid-1990s to design and evaluate an innovative program to deliver health care to people in their own homes using community volunteers and nurses on motorbikes. The experiment succeeded in reducing deaths among children less than 5 years old by two-thirds in eight years; the program thus demonstrated how a resource-poor setting could reach a Millennium Development Goal in virtually half that target’s timeline.

Read more about the Population Council's work research and programs on newborn/infant health, kangaroo mother care, and orphans and vulnerable children.

Selected projects

• Community-based Kangaroo Mother Care to Prevent Neonatal and Infant Mortality (2004–2008)
• Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) (2004–2009)