Your voice matters - be a messenger for children

Members of Parliament still need to hear that Canadians believe five years is NOT a child's lifetime.

Prime Minister Harper and his senior Ministers do support concrete action on child and maternal health at this year's G8 Summit in Muskoka. But we need to make sure that once the Summit is over and they return to Parliament Hill, that the Canadian government takes real action to stop the preventable deaths of 8.8 million children.

All Members of Parliament (MPs) must support decisions by the government of Canada to provide new funds for overseas development programs supporting child and maternal health and ensure that these programs both prevent and address the ill health that results in the deaths of 8.8 million children and 350,000 women.

The lives of millions of families can be changed by the decisions that the G8 leaders and our government take in the coming months. Be sure to let our government know that you are concerned about the lives of children living in poverty in developing countries and that you believe the Canadian goverment can save and improve children's lives.

All you have to do is click on the ACT tab at http://fivefor5.ca/ select the "Send a letter to your MP" button and follow the instructions. If you want to increase the likelihood that your MP will read your communication, write a person letter to your MP. You can find out who your MP is by visiting http://www.elections.ca/home.asp. Then you can use the points below to write your letter. Add a personal reflection on why this issue matters to you to help communicate your concern for children. For example, you may have been ill with a stomache bug and received basic medicine to heal the illness. In some countries, this basic medicine is not available for children and they may die a result.

Here are points for your letter:

• I am concerned about the 8.8 million children living in developing countries who die before reaching the age of five.
• most of these children die from causes that we would not allow Canadian children to die from - diarrhea, malnourishment, measles and pneumonia.
• I want you to support concrete action by the Canadian government to stop the preventable deaths of 8.8 million chidlren by dedicating new money to development programs that will prevent the most child and maternal deaths and do the most to improve their health.