UN report: Campaign has reduced mother and child deaths

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – A new U.N. report says a $60 billion campaign to improve the health of women and children has led to a decrease in maternal and child death rates in all 49 targeted countries.

The report released Tuesday cited improvements in the targeted countries including nearly one million new health workers, a 193 percent increase in treatments to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, and a 25 percent rise in skilled care at births and in post-natal care for women.

But it also said that in 6.3 million children under the age of five died in 2013, the latest year for which data is available, or more than 17,000 a day.

The campaign raised $60 billion between 2010 and 2015 of which $26 billion is still available for use, the report said.