CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (PRWEB)
April 20, 2021

In 2018, 1.2 million children under the age of five died from treatable causes because world goals were not met, according to a new book by empty tomb, inc.

In 1990 and 2000, world leaders “promised” (their word) to reach target goals for reducing under-5 child deaths around the globe.

By 2015, these goals were not fully met.

A calculation in empty tomb’s The State of Church Giving through 2018 found that the difference between the target rate for under-five child deaths, and the actual rate of death from treatable causes meant that 1.2 million died in this “Promise Gap.”

Further, empty tomb analyzed the location of these child deaths, and found that almost 80% were in Africa.

That fact amounts to global racism.

In addition to analyzing church member giving and membership trends, as well as available information on global conditions, empty tomb is also working to launch a major effort to “close, in Jesus’ name, the Promise Gap” by 2025. That is, by the year 2025, 40 countries, where a majority of these deaths occur, would be on track to meet their target reduction goals for under-5 child deaths.

Churches, with their communication networks, and distribution channels, are in a position to accomplish this task.

Experts at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health, as well as the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, say it is possible to reduce these deaths.

With two children dying each minute in the Promise Gap, empty tomb hopes to jumpstart a movement among churches to reach the reduction goal by 2025. The organization is looking for an “entrepreneurial philanthropist” to provide the visibility and means to launch a broad-based effort among churches to confront this injustice through empty tomb’s Mission Match®.

More information is available at missionmatch.org.

The State of Church Giving through 2018: What If Jesus Comes Back in 2025? (30th edition, December 2020) is available from Wipf and Stock Publishers.

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Experts at the Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health stated in a 2012 paper: “Ending preventable child deaths is not an unreachable pipe dream. Rather, based on sound analysis to drive new commitment and more effective programming, it is an eminently achievable goal for the next generation.” Roger I. Glass, Alan E. Guttmacher, Robert E. Black; “Viewpoint: Ending Preventable Child Death in a Generation”; American Medical Association; JAMA, July 11, 2012—Vol. 308, No. 2; p. 141 of 6/14/2013 printout.

    Robert E. Black is at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. (410) 955-3934.

    Roger I. Glass is Director of the Fogarty International Center and Associate Director for International Research at the National Institutes of Health. (301) 435-2920.

Danzhen You and others of the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, in a review of progress made in reducing global child deaths from 2000-2015, concluded: “Despite substantial progress in reducing child mortality, concerted efforts remain necessary to avoid preventable under-5 deaths in the coming years and to accelerate progress in improving child survival further.” Danzhen You, et al.; “Global, Regional, and National Levels and Trends in Under-5 Mortality Between 1990 and 2015, with Scenario-Based Projections to 2030: A Systematic Analysis by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation”; The Lancet; 12/5/2015; p. 2285 of 2/9/2016 printout.

     Danzhen You is Senior Adviser, Statistics and Monitoring at UNICEF, and Coordinator of the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, based in New York, New York: childmortality@unicef.org

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