From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Sep 10 2009 - 08:21:04 EDT
Global child mortality continues to drop
NEW YORK, 10 September 2009 – UNICEF today released new figures that show
the rate of deaths of children under five years of age continued to decline
in 2008.
The data shows a 28 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from
90 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990, to 65 deaths per 1000 live births in
2008. According to these estimates, the absolute number of child deaths in
2008 declined to an estimated 8.8 million from 12.5 million in 1990, the
base line year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“Compared to 1990, 10,000 fewer children are dying every day,” said UNICEF
Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. “While progress is being made, it is
unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth
birthday.”
The new estimates are the result of collection and analysis of a range of
data sources by demographers and health experts from UNICEF, the World
Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations Population
Division, guided by technical advisors from a number of major academic
institutions.
The data shows global under-five mortality has decreased steadily over the
past two decades, and that the rate of the decline in the under-five
mortality rates has increased since the 1990s. The average rate of decline
from 2000 to 2008 is 2.3 per cent, compared to a 1.4 per cent average
decline from 1990 to 2000.
Public health experts attribute the continuing decline to increased use of
key health interventions, such as immunizations, including measles
vaccinations, the use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria and
Vitamin A supplementation. Where these interventions have increased,
positive results have followed.
Progress has been seen in every part of the world, and even in some of the
least-developed countries. A key example is Malawi, one of ten high
under-five mortality countries that is now on track to meet the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality
between 1990 and 2015.
Estimates show that under-five mortality in Malawi has fallen from 225
deaths per 1000 live births in 1990, to 100 per thousand on 2008. In 2000,
only 3 per cent of children under five slept under a mosquito net – a key
means of preventing malaria, whereas by 2006 this had risen to 25 per cent.
Malawi has focused its limited resources on improvements in health and
health systems and the use of the most effective interventions, with the
result that significant numbers of children’s lives have been saved.
The new data also shows that seven of the 67 high mortality countries (those
with under-five mortality rates of 40 per thousand live births or higher)
have consistently achieved annual rates of reduction of under-five mortality
of 4.5 per cent or higher. These are Nepal, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Lao
People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Bolivia and Malawi.
Impressive gains have also been made in countries that are not fully on
track to meet the Millennium goal. Niger, Mozambique and Ethiopia have all
reduced under-five mortality by more than 100 per 1000 live births since
1990.
While progress has been made in many countries, the global rate of
improvement is still insufficient to reach the MDG, and Africa and Asia
combined still account for 93 per cent of all under-five deaths that occur
each year in the developing world.
“A handful of countries with large populations bear a disproportionate
burden of under-five deaths, with forty per cent of the world’s under-five
deaths occurring in just three countries: India, Nigeria, and the Democratic
Republic of Congo,” said Veneman. “Unless mortality in these countries can
be significantly reduced, the MDG targets will not be met.”
In some countries, progress is slow or non-existent. In South Africa the
under-five mortality rate has actually gone up since 1990. The health of the
child is inextricably linked to the health of the mother and South Africa
has the highest number of women living with HIV in the world. Recent
commitments by the government to scale up interventions to prevent
mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS should help improve the situation.
The survey data incorporated in these estimates generally reflects mortality
over the preceding 3 to 5 years. This means that major improvements in
provision of nets for malaria prevention, of vaccines against meningitis
(HiB) and of vitamin A supplementation, improved prevention of
mother-to-child transmission of HIV and of pediatric HIV, and further
progress on protecting against measles and tetanus may not yet be fully
reflected in the data.
Progress can be accelerated even in the poorest environments, through
integrated, evidence-driven, community-based health programs that focus on
addressing the major causes of death -- pneumonia, diarrhea, newborn
disorders, malaria, HIV and under-nutrition.
The two leading causes of under-five mortality are pneumonia and diarrhea.
New tools, such as vaccines against pneumococcal pneumonia and rotaviral
diarrhea, could provide additional momentum.
“Achieving the Millennium Development Goal target of a two-thirds reduction
in under-five mortality by 2015 will require a strong sense of urgency with
targeted resources for greater progress,” said Veneman.
###
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help
children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The
world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF
supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality
basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from
violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the
voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and
governments
For additional information, please contact:
Brian Hansford, UNICEF New York,
Tel + 1 212 326 7269,
E-mail: bhansford@unicef.org
Christian Moen, UNICEF, New York,
Tel + 1 212 326 7516,
E-mail: cmoen@unicef.org
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