Child deaths down by half – UN

MANILA, Philippines - The United Nations said child deaths have gone down globally by almost half since 1990, but this is still not enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

A report released by the UN system and World Bank said that in 2012, 6.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday. This means that 18,000 children died per day last year.

This is roughly half of the more than 12 million under-five children who died in 1990.

“This trend is a positive one. Millions of lives have been saved,” said Anthony Lake, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund.

“And we can do still better. Most of these deaths can be prevented, using simple steps that many countries have already put in place –what we need is a greater sense of urgency,” he added.

The UN report also showed that the global average annual rate of reduction in under-five mortality accelerated from 1.2 percent per year for the period of 1990-1995 to 3.9 percent.

However, the rate of decline is still not sufficient to meet MDG 4, which aims to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

The leading causes of death among children include pneumonia, prematurity, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria. But globally, about 45 percent of under-five deaths are linked to undernutrition.

The report also said that about half of under-five deaths occur in only five countries: China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

India and Nigeria together account for 22 percent and 13 percent, respectively, or more than one-third of all deaths of children under this age group.