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The international community's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals includes a target of reducing the mortality rate among children under five by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. Although the nutrition and health interventions needed to accomplish this goal already exist, less than half of all newborns and children receive them. As a result, it is estimated that 63% of the world's 10.6 million annual childhood deaths—the vast majority of which occur in developing countries—are due to preventable causes.
BASICS' mission is to help Ministries of Health and their partners implement large-scale, evidence-based interventions that have been proven to be effective in preventing and treating the major causes of newborn and childhood death. These include malaria, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, birth complications, and HIV/AIDS. Because most infants and children in developing countries have limited or no access to the formal health system, BASICS places strong emphasis on improving the reach of health programs through community-based treatment, including private sector drug distribution.