According to a new report released by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division, approximately 6.6 million children worldwide, which is 18,000 children per day died before reaching five years of age. This number is roughly half the number of under-fives who had died in 1990, when there were more than 12 million dead children who were under the age of five.
This as one can see is a positive change, and with better medical facilities and steps most deaths can be prevented. Antony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director said, “What we need is a greater sense of urgency.”
The report also mentioned that the leading causes of death among children who were aged less than five years were pneumonia, prematurity, birth asphyxia, diarrhoea and malaria. 45 per cent of children died globally due to mal nutrition.
Out of the total number, about half of these under five children were from only five countries, namely, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. The occurrence of such deaths in children is at 22% in India and 13% in Nigeria, thus accounting for more than one third of all deaths of children under five globally.
About half of under-five deaths occur in only five countries: India (22%) and Nigeria (13%) together account for more than one-third of all deaths of children under the age of five.
Newborn children have been found to be at a greater risk, as Dr. Margaret Cahn, Director General at WHO says, “Care for mother and baby in the first 24 hours of any child’s life is critical for the health and wellbeing of both, up to half of all newborn deaths occur within the first day.”
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