Chloe responds to new Save the Children report on Aid

Chloe Smith today commented on the new report published by Save the Children which revealed that the deaths of four million children worldwide over the last ten years could have been prevented had countries helped poorer children in the same way that they help those who are better-off.

The report, entitled ‘A Fair Chance At Life,' observes that average global figures, which show child mortality has fallen 28% over the past decade, could be misleading. Furthermore the report notes that there is a growing trend among developing countries towards reducing child mortality in advantaged communities at the expense of children who are less well-off.

Commenting on the report Chloe said:

"This report has raised some serious issues which require our urgent attention.

"At the moment some nine million children die before the age of five each year, 72 million children miss out on an education and every day 30,000 children die from easily-preventable diseases. This is simply not acceptable.

"Even in these difficult economic times the UK has a moral responsibility to help the poorest people in the world. At the moment we are on track to halve extreme poverty and I am pleased that in two weeks' time the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will be attending the UN Summit in New York with other world leaders to discuss the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which the UK hopes to achieve by 2015."