Child mortality

Child mortality is the death of children in their first 5 years of life. About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day, mainly from preventable causes. Child mortality is higher in low-income countries than in wealthier countries: in low-income countries, one out of every 10 children dies before the age of five. In wealthier nations, this number is only one out of 143.

According to an estimate by UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank, in a year, 2.4 million child deaths can be prevented for 1.92 billion $US (an average of 800 $US for each child preserved).

Causes of Child Mortality
According to UNICEF, more than 70 per cent of around 11 million child deaths every year result from one the following 6 causes:
 * 1) diarrhea,
 * 2) malaria,
 * 3) neonatal infection,
 * 4) pneumonia,
 * 5) preterm delivery,
 * 6) lack of oxygen at birth.

The majority of child deaths are preventable. Some of the deaths occur from illnesses like measles, malaria or tetanus. Others result indirectly from marginalization, conflict and HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition and the lack of safe water and sanitation contribute to half of all these children’s deaths. Research and experience show that six million of the almost 11 million children who die each year could be saved by low-tech, evidence-based, cost-effective measures such as vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed nets and improved family care and breastfeeding practices.

Rates of Child Mortality
According to UNICEF, these deaths mostly occur in the developing world. An Ethiopian child is 30 times more likely to die by his or her fifth birthday than a child in Western Europe. Among deaths in children, South-central Asia has the highest number of neonatal deaths, while sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates. Two-thirds of deaths occur in just 10 countries.

See http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/mortchildmortality/en/index.html for World Health Organization statistics on under 5 child mortality rates.