16,000 children under 5 years old die each day
Child mortality rates have plummeted to less than half of what they were in 1990, according to a new report. Under-five deaths have dropped from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million in 2015. This is the first year the figure has gone below the 6 million mark.
New estimates in Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2015 released by UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank Group, and the Population Division of UNDESA, indicate that although the global progress has been substantial, 16,000 children under five still die every day. And the 53 per cent drop in under-five mortality is not enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction between 1990 and 2015.
The report notes that the biggest challenge remains in the period at or around birth. A massive 45 per cent of under-five deaths occur in the neonatal period – the first 28 days of life. Prematurity, pneumonia, complications during labour and delivery, diarrhoea, sepsis, and malaria are leading causes of deaths of children under 5 years old. Nearly half of all under-five deaths are associated with undernutrition.
However, most child deaths are easily preventable by proven and readily available interventions. The rate of reduction of child mortality can speed up considerably by concentrating on regions with the highest levels and ensuring a targeted focus on newborns.
"We know how to prevent unnecessary newborn mortality. Quality care around the time of childbirth including simple affordable steps like ensuring early skin-to-skin contact, exclusive breastfeeding and extra care for small and sick babies can save thousands of lives every year," noted Dr Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director General at WHO. "The Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, to be launched at the UN General Assembly this month, will be a major catalyst for giving all newborns the best chance at a healthy start in life."
The report highlights that a child's chance of survival is still vastly different based on where s/he is born.
Among the report's findings:
• Roughly one-third of the world's countries – 62 in all – have actually met the MDG target to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds, while another 74 have reduced rates by at least half.
• The world as a whole has been accelerating progress in reducing under-five mortality – its annual rate of reduction increased from 1.8 per cent in 1990-2000 to 3.9 per cent in 2000-2015.
• 10 of the 12 low income countries which have reduced under-five mortality rates by at least two-thirds are in Africa.
• 5 in 10 global under-five deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and another 3 in 10 occur in Southern Asia.
• 45 per cent of all under-five deaths happen during the first 28 days of life. 1 million neonatal deaths occur on the day of birth, and close to 2 million children die in the first week of life.
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