Citizens ranging from schoolchildren to political leaders to soldiers will be involved in the campaign, organized as part of World Vision India’s Global Week of Action 2015, which focusses on spreading the message of right nutrition for children below five and young mothers.

The initiative would engage people in various activities aimed at creating awareness. A child’s fifth birthday is a milestone that more than 6.6 million children every year do not live to see, due to malnutrition. World Vision’s campaign aims to be a movement that brings together people, organisations, governments and businesses to work with renewed focus and energy to ensure all children ‘survive five’.

Dr Jayakumar Christian, CEO and National Director, World Vision India pointed out that this was not just about a week of action but about yet another opportunity to promote and drive sustained dialogue and action.

“Over 500 events are being organised across the country over a period of one week in an effort to raise over 1.4 million hands in India alone as part of World Vision’s global campaign for child health. The support received during the Global Week of Action 20th –27th February 2015 will play a major role in the advocacy efforts at the World Health Assembly at Geneva at the end of May 2015,” he added. 

Apart from members of the general public, World Vision India plans to mobilize in large numbers community members, NGO partners, corporate partners and journalists in a bid to spread the message across.

The under-five mortality rate in India has decreased over the last decade, to 52 per 1000 live births compared to 85 in 2003, while the infant mortality has decreased from 60 in 2003 to 42 in 2013. More children died during their early days of life, within the first month of birth. More people are getting aware of the importance of right nutrition, but there is still a long way to go.

“The Global Week of Action 2015 is also important because we are so close to the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and urgent action needs to be taken now. As discussions take place about the framework that will replace the MDGs, we want to ensure that tackling the preventable deaths of children under the age of 5 is a high priority,” said Dr Jayakumar.

Global Week of Action 2014 was able to garner the support of over 2.12 million people from across countries, including India, in a similar attempt by World Vision at spreading awareness.