The rate of child deaths around the world has dropped by more than half since 1990, but not enough to reach the UN’s goal of a two-thirds reduction by this year, according to a new report released on Tuesday evening.
New estimates show that deaths of children under the age of five fell from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million this year, the first time the figure has dropped below 6 million. Despite the decline, 16,000 children under the age of five still die every day, according to the report by the UN children’s agency UNICEF, the WHO, the World Bank Group and the UN’s Population Division.
Based on the data, UNICEF reported that 48 million children under the age of five have been saved since governments committed to achieving the UN goal in 2000.
World leaders are expected to adopt a new set of goals for the next 15 years at a UN summit later this month. UNICEF said 38 million more lives of young children can be saved if progress to reduce child mortality is accelerated.
UNICEF deputy executive director Geeta Rao Gupta said that since 2000, many countries tripled the rate of reduction of mortality in children under the age of five.
“The far too large number of children still dying from preventable causes before their fifth birthday, and indeed within their first month of life, should impel us to redouble our efforts to do what we know needs to be done,” she said.
According to the report, the biggest challenge remains the first 28 days of life, when a massive 45 percent of under-five deaths occur.
The leading causes of deaths of children under the age of five are premature birth, pneumonia, complications during labor and delivery, malaria and sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection, the report said, adding that nearly half the deaths are associated with “under-nutrition.”
The report highlights that a child’s chance of survival is vastly different based on its birthplace.
In sub-Saharan Africa, one child in 12 dies before their fifth birthday, the highest rate in the world and more than 12 times higher than the one-in-147 average for under-five deaths in high-income countries, the report said.
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