UNICEF Calls Prevention Of Child Deaths “First Great Achievement Of
The New Millennium”
At Least Six
Million More Children Being Saved Annually Compared To 1990
Accomplishments
Still Fall Short Of Stated Goal For 2015
An estimated 19,000 fewer children under five are dying
each day in 2015 compared to 1990 when 35,000 total were dying daily,
according to recent reports from UNICEF and other UN agencies. Called
“substantial” and “remarkable” progress by the authors, the “Levels
and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2015” finds that an estimated 5.9
million child deaths have occurred or will occur in 2015, at least 6
million lower than the 12.7 million deaths estimated for 1990.
Rate of Decline
The
under five mortality rate stood at 90 child deaths per 1,000 live
births in 1990 and fell to 43 by 2015. The annual rate of decline has
been 3% and the overall decline during this 25 year time period was
53%.
During the period 2000-2015, an estimated 48 million under five child
deaths were prevented, and 18 million of these survivors lived because
the pace of the decline increased after 2000.
Great Achievement
In an accompanying report, “A Promise Renewed: 2015
Progress Report” UNICEF Director Yoka Brandt states “Saving the
lives of millions of children in urban and rural settings, in wealthy
and poor countries, is one of the first great achievements of the new
millennium---and one of the biggest challenges of the next 15 years is
to further accelerate this progress.”
Interventions
Credited with bringing about these impressive
achievements are 1) skilled antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care,
2) breastfeeding, 3) immunization, 4) insecticide treated mosquito
nets, 5) improved water and sanitation, 6) oral rehydration therapy
for diarrhea, 7) antibiotics for pneumonia, and 8) nutritional
supplements and therapeutic foods.
Remaining Challenges
Despite these important accomplishments, the number of
child deaths remains high at 16,000 per day. At the current rate of
progress, the Millennium Development Goal to reduce under five
mortality by two-thirds by 2015 is 10 years behind schedule and would
not be achieved before 2026. Had the necessary steady progress been
made since 2000 to achieve that goal, 14 million more children would
have survived to age five beginning in 2000.
Sustainable
Development Goal
These facts are behind the call for redoubling the
efforts to prevent child deaths as part of the new Sustainable
Development goal for 2030 to reduce the rate of under five mortality
from 43 per 1,000 live births to 25 per 1,000. Encouragingly, the rate
of decline has been swifter since 2000 than in the preceding decade.
At present, several regions of the world, particularly
sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia need to make quicker progress by
doubling or even tripling their rates of declining mortality.
Projections
If the child death rate in 2015 is extended to 2030, 94
million children are expected to die. If the rate of decline in child
death rate matches the decline of the last few years, 69 million
children are expected to die. It is only with an acceleration of that
rate of progress that the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal can be
met. If so, the number of child deaths in 2030 will fall to 2.4
million in that year or about 6,500 per day, significantly less than
the 16,000 per day now.
Nature of the
Challenges
The vast majority of under five deaths are caused by
infectious diseases (about half) and neonatal complications. Many of
these are readily preventable or treatable with the proven
cost-effective and quality-delivered interventions which already
account for the progress to date, according to the report. Almost half
of all under five deaths are attributable to undernutrition.
The
report calls for more investment by individual countries and the
international community to end preventable child deaths by focusing on
sub-Saharan Africa where the increase in population could well surpass
any declining rate in child deaths if no acceleration in decline takes
place. Another target area is Southern Asia which has a rate of 51
per 1,000 live births, double the rate called for in
2030.
Interventions should be enhanced in dealing with neonatal deaths since
the decline in that category of children has been slower than the
decline of child deaths in the post neonatal period.
Additional information is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/nz6flz4
https://tinyurl.com/nwqbowl
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