Child Health & Mortality

Child Health And Mortality Protection Surveillance (CHAMPS) is a global surveillance network that generates and shares accurate information on causes of stillbirths and child deaths in high-mortality settings in Africa and South Asia. The work is coordinated through a Program Office based at the Task Force for Global Health. Working closely with communities and their leaders, teams in CHAMPS sites work quickly to identify deaths and, with a family’s consent, use innovative diagnostic methods to investigate the causes. Findings help families improve the health of their children. CHAMPS provides data to local, national, and global health leaders to improve policies and programs and drive investments to save lives.

under the age of 5 died worldwide in 2024

0 Children

Source: United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), Report 2024

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The Challenge

Africa and South Asia account for 82% of under-five child mortality worldwide. Gaps in disease surveillance, death registries, and diagnostic testing often obscure specific causes of death, particularly in low-resource countries or geographies where child mortality rates are highest. CHAMPS engages locally, nationally, and globally to understand and address the causes of stillbirth, neonatal, and early childhood deaths.

Launched in 2015 with funding from the Gates Foundation, CHAMPS results have been empowering parents, communities, partners, and policymakers to save young lives. CHAMPS found that about 8 of every 10 deaths were from preventable causes:

Causes of death differ by age group, but late or poor-quality care are a common thread
Untreated pregnancy and delivery complications, not a medical condition in the baby, account for 7 out of every 10 stillbirths
Leading causes of deaths in newborns are:
- Infections from multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia, a bacteria acquired in neonatal units
- Complications of prematurity and delivery
7 of every 10 deaths in infants and children are from multiple conditions occurring together; 8 of 10 have at least one infectious disease
Severe malnutrition is a common underlying cause of death in infants and children, often leading to fatal infections like pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea
HIV causes many infant and child deaths in communities where the virus circulates among adults; half of all child HIV diagnoses are only discovered through CHAMPS’ postmortem testing

Our Approach

CHAMPS network sites are working to:

Identify and track definitive causes of stillbirth and child mortality using minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) and cutting-edge diagnostics.
Disseminate and communicate CHAMPS findings to key stakeholders to influence policy action and maternal and child health services.
Use the CHAMPS network to implement, investigate, and test data-driven interventions for reducing maternal and child mortality.
Enhance operational efficiency and Network excellence to accelerate program progress and impact.