Partnering to Improve Child Health in Latin America

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 - The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), Medical Missions for Children (MMC) and the World Bank™ announced a new partnership to close the rapidly growing knowledge gap between the North and South in an effort to better serve the medical needs of catastrophically ill children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Through the new expanded network, the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network™ (GTTN), a satellite and Internet-based communications platform, GDLN and MMC will improve treatment of remote, critically ill children in real time.

"Child health has improved across the United States and in some Latin America countries due in large part to improved health care. However, new life-saving technologies have yet to arrive in many areas," said Pamela Cox, World Bank Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, in her opening remarks. "We hope this new partnership will enable the development community to transfer desperately needed medical knowledge from the United States to medical facilities in urban and rural areas throughout Latin America and the Caribbean."

According to the UNICEF, about 29,000 children under the age of five - 21 each minute - die worldwide every day, mainly from preventable causes worldwide. More than 70 percent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth.

Consequently, MMC helps children in 36 countries using both the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network and the World Bank™'s global network.

"In today's world, where medical knowledge is expected to double in the next five to ten years, it becomes increasingly important for organizations such as the World Bank's Global Development Learning Network and Medical Missions for Children to pool their resources in order to meet the challenge of disseminating information to the global medical community," said Tommy Thompson, former US Secretary for Health and Human Services, and MMC board member.

"The role of Medical Missions for Children is quite simple," said Frank Brady, co-founding member of MMC, "to deliver medical knowledge from those who have it to those who need it. This eventually raises the level of medical expertise within a given hospital, thus allowing them to better serve their community and have a positive effect on patient outcomes."

Medical Missions for Children's goal is to affect the lives of one million children a year. Since 1999, MMC has helped nearly 23,500 catastrophically ill children.