‘Sustainability Corner’: End preventable child deaths

Columnist Simon Chorley. /Simon Chorley photo

By Independent columnist Simon Chorley

Welcome to Sustainability Corner where each week we will look at a global issue making a local impact.

These issues are based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were set by governments, including Canada, in 2015, with the aim of achieving them by 2030. The aim is not to provide all the answers, but to spark constructive conversations about our role in addressing these challenges.

Week 3: End preventable child deaths 

In September 2025, an infant tragically passed away after a motor vehicle collision involving a child care centre in Richmond Hill. As a precaution, the Government of Ontario directed all licensed child care centres to close parking spaces near child care areas as short-term measures to protect children, while longer-term solutions were developed. Preventable child deaths don’t just happen somewhere else in the world but can affect us all. 

The United Nations reports that deaths of children under the age of five has fallen in the last decade, from 6.1 million to 4.9 million. The global maternal mortality ratio has also fallen, from 228 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births to 197. But funding cuts and ongoing crises are putting decades of global health progress at risk.

Official overseas development assistance from high to low-income countries has fallen to levels not seen since 2015, with a further decline projected, and there has been a drop in childhood vaccination rates since the COVID-19 pandemic. Deep inequalities in healthcare access remain, and critical shortages of health workers persist in many regions of the world.

Inequitable access to healthcare is also present in Canada, particularly among remote and Indigenous communities.

UNICEF’s 2026 report on Canadian child wellbeing finds that Canada ranks 31^st of 44 high-income countries for child mortality, with the rate rising over 10 years from 0.88 to 1.09 per 1,000 children under five, surpassing 2018 levels (0.94 per 1,000) in a concerning reversal of progress.

Statistics Canada reports that while Canada’s maternal mortality is low at 11.65 deaths for every 100,000 live births (significantly less than the U.S. rate), this has actually risen since 2015. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada points to several factors: People are delaying childbirth until later in life, or they are having children at younger ages unintentionally – both of these scenarios carry increased health risks.

While child and maternal mortality are not the health issues that immediately come to mind here in Northumberland County, the preventable death of even one child in our province is one too many. In December, the Government of Ontario invested $20 million to launch a memorial fund following the Richmond Hill tragedy. The aim is to help protect children in child care by helping community-based licensed facilities install concrete barriers free of charge.

So if there’s one thing we can all do, as parents, grandparents, family or friends, we can ask our child care centres if they are installing these barriers, so that this never happens again.

Simon Chorley is a Cobourg resident and a human rights and sustainability consultant. He has previously worked at a human rights charity tackling human trafficking, and for the United Nations. Connect with him on LinkedIn.