Global Agriculture
Children in sub-Saharan Africa face a higher risk of death (Photo: CC0)
Although the global number of
child deaths remains high, the world has made tremendous progress in
reducing child mortality over the past few decades. The total number of
under-five deaths dropped to 5.3 million in 2018, down from 12.5 million
in 1990. This is the main message of a report published today by UN
organisations led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the “Levels and trends in child mortality: Report 2019”,
more women and their children are surviving today than ever before.
Since 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half and maternal deaths
by over one-third, mostly due to improved access to affordable, quality
health services. However, in 2018 alone, 15,000 children died per day
before reaching their fifth birthday. “It is especially unacceptable
that these children and young adolescents died largely of preventable or
treatable causes like infectious diseases and injuries when we have the
means to prevent these deaths,” the authors write in the introduction
to the report. The global under-five mortality rate fell to 39 deaths
per 1,000 live births in 2018, down from 76 in 2000 – a 49% decline.“Despite advances in fighting childhood illnesses, infectious diseases remain a leading cause of death for children under the age of 5, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia,” says the report. Pneumonia remains the leading cause of death globally among children under the age of 5, accounting for 15% of deaths. Diarrhoea (8%) and malaria (5%), together with pneumonia, accounted for almost a third of global under-five deaths in 2018. “Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from these common childhood illnesses. Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45 per cent of deaths in children under 5 years of age,” warns the report. The estimates also show vast inequalities worldwide, with women and children in sub-Saharan Africa facing a higher risk of death than in all other regions. Level of maternal deaths are nearly 50 times higher for women in sub-Saharan Africa compared to high-income countries. In 2018, 1 in 13 children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday – this is 15 times higher than the risk a child faces in Europe, where just 1 in 196 children aged less than 5 die.
In 2015, the 193 UN Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The third SDG calls for an end to preventable deaths of newborns and children under age 5, with all countries aiming to reduce under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. The global target for ending preventable maternal mortality is to reduce the mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030. The world will fall short of this target by more than 1 million lives if the current pace of progress continues. “A skilled pair of hands to help mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death. We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. (ab)
- Levels and trends in child mortality: Report 2019
- UNICEF: More women and children survive today than ever before – UN report
Child and Infant Mortality
This entry was first published in 2013 and updated in November 2019.
Child mortality today is the lowest it has ever been. In less than three decades child mortality has more than halved — from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.4 million in 2017. This is a huge accomplishment that should not be overlooked.
Of course, the death of every child is an enormous tragedy, and in many countries far too many children die because of causes we know how to prevent and treat. As the map here shows, today the highest child mortality rates are in Sub-Saharan Africa, where we still have countries with child mortality rates greater than 10% — this means that one out of 10 children born never reach their 5th birthday.
56 million people in the world died in 2017. How old were they when their lives ended?
The answer can be seen in the bar chart. It shows all deaths in the world by age in five-year age groups, starting with the youngest on the left towards the oldest age group (95+ years) on the right.
What stands out is the death toll for the very youngest age-group. 5.4 million children died before they had their fifth birthday. On any average day, that’s 15,000 young children.
The suffering and dying of children remains immense, yet these daily tragedies continue without receiving the attention this injustice deserves. A comparison of the tragedy of child deaths with those tragedies that do receive public attention puts it in perspective. A large jumbo jet can carry up to 620 passengers.
The number of child deaths is that of 24 jumbo jet crashes, with only children on board, every single day.
Single events – such as plane crashes – always make the headlines. Daily tragedies – even the worst ones like the deaths of thousands of children – never make the headlines.
Every case of a family losing a child is a tragedy, regardless of how common or uncommon the cause. Spectacular events that grab global attention in the media are not more important than everyday human suffering. But unfortunately this is not how our minds and our media work. What we focus our attention on are either the spectacular tragedies (natural disasters, terrorist attacks, crime) or new problems (fake news, risks from automation). The first category keeps the breaking news cycle running, the second category keeps the op-ed writers employed. But in many aspects the biggest threats to our lives are the same threats that all the generations that came before us have faced. And this seems unfortunately to be true for what kills children around the world; it’s neither new nor spectacular.
A newspaper that would cover the most important facts about the last 24 hours would cover the 15,000 child deaths on its cover page every day.
You can see all the article here.
Photo from here
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