USAID Wants to Save 15 Million Kids by 2020
By Maya Rhodan
USAID’s mission has long been to help countries around the globe keep kids and families healthy. Now the agency’s plan is more targeted than ever before.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a lofty goal for the next five years: save the lives of 15 million kids and 600,000 mothers, many of whom die shortly after birth, by 2020.
This year alone, more than 6 million children under age five will die shortly after birth from preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea. Over 70% of those deaths will occur in just 24 countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia and South Sudan, among others. Thus, USAID’s new plan, unveiled Wednesday, focuses its aid efforts in those 24 countries.