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Child mortality worldwide is at an all-time low, with fewer children under the age of 5 dying in 2006 than at any time since 199O. Millions of lives have been saved thanks to immunisation and anti-malarial measures, says the UN children's agency
The world has made solid progress in child survival with the annual number of child deaths falling to a record low in 2006, reports the United Nations children’s agency Unicef. The number of children under 5 who died was less than 10 million for the first time since 1990, thanks mainly to immunisation and nutrition programmes and anti-malarial measures.
Unicef’s figures, based on government surveys from more than 50 countries in 2005 and 2006, show that the drop in child mortality figures was a significant 3 million, from 12.7 million under-5 deaths in 1990 to 9.7 deaths in 2006.
Importantly, all regions of the world, except for most of Africa, witnessed a fall in the number of child deaths. In the developing world, child mortality is considerably higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households.
The decline was particularly marked in Morocco, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, where the number of young children dying dropped by a third since previous surveys in 1990-2000, says Unicef. Madagascar has cut its rate by 41%, while Sao Tome and Principe has seen its rate fall by 48%.
While the actual number of deaths in many parts of Africa rose, mortality rates (deaths per thousand children) were lower.
There has also been significant progress in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In Malawi, under-5 mortality declined 29%, between 2000 and 2004. In Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda and Tanzania, child mortality rates have dropped by more than 20%.
In absolute numbers, the majority of child deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (4.8 million) and South Asia (3.1 million). But the highest rates of child mortality are still found in west and central African countries. In southern Africa, hard-won gains in child survival have been undermined by the spread of HIV/AIDS.
South Asia, where under-5 mortality rates and the number of deaths are second only to those in sub-Saharan Africa, also registered commendable progress, with the number of deaths falling from 4.7 million in 1990 to 3.1 million in 2006.
Meanwhile, the Latin American and Caribbean region is on course to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality by two-thirds, by 2015 -- it registered 27 deaths on average for every 1,000 live births in 2006, compared with 55 in 1990.
The reasons for the substantial drop in the number of child deaths worldwide are higher levels of immunisation against major childhood diseases and measures to tackle malaria, which is a major child killer in most of Africa and large parts of Asia. Measles vaccinations, insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets, and increased rates of breastfeeding were said to be simple solutions to the problem of child mortality.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, deaths from measles have been reduced by 75% due to increased vaccination coverage.
In Vietnam, child mortality dropped by about 40% after 30,000 people were trained as health workers and paid to treat people in their own villages, said Unicef.
Convincing mothers to exclusively breastfeed their children for the first six months of life was also crucial, the agency said.
The new figures are drawn from a range of national data sources, including two sets of household surveys -- the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and the Demographic Household Surveys (DHS). The current round of MICS was conducted in over 50 countries in 2005-06. Together with the USAID-supported DHS, the MICS are the largest single source of information on the Millennium Development Goals and form the basis of the assessment of progress on child survival.
Unicef Executive Director Ann M Veneman hailed the news saying: “This is an historic moment. More children are surviving today than ever before. Now we must build on this public health success to push for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”
Among these goals is a commitment to a two-thirds reduction in child mortality between 1990 and 2015, a result that would save an additional 5.4 million children by 2015.
Veneman reiterated the agency’s oft-repeated line that most childhood deaths are preventable; there is no room for complacency as much more needs to be done. “The loss of 9.7 million young lives each year is unacceptable. Most of these deaths are preventable and, as recent progress shows, the solutions are tried-and-tested. We know that lives can be saved when children have access to integrated, community-based health services, backed by a strong referral system.”
Peter Salama, Unicef’s head of global health, called on the global community to invest another $ 5 billion (£ 2.4 billion) to help the UN achieve its Millennium Development Goals. Millions of deaths could be prevented using currently available health measures, Salama said. Among these were campaigns to increase childhood immunisation, the distribution of Vitamin A supplements and mosquito nets treated with insecticide, and drug treatment for children infected with HIV.
“The new figures show that progress is possible if we act with renewed urgency to scale up interventions that have proven successful,” said Veneman. “There is a clear need for action on child survival in Africa and beyond.” In addition, there is unprecedented support for global health, with increased funding and expanding partnerships, including with governments, the private sector, international foundations and civil society, she concluded.
InfoChange News and Features, September 2007
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