"SOLID PROGRESS"
Child mortality worldwide hits record low-below 10 million in 2006 for the first time
NEW YORK
Deaths of children under age five around the world dropped below 10 million for the first time last year. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said deaths in that category hit a record low of 9.7 million from almost 13 million in 1990, and hailed what it called "solid progress on child survival."
There were rapid declines in annual under-five deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, East Asia and the Pacific, as well as many parts of Africa.
"This is an historic moment," said UNICEF executive director Ann Veneman. "More children are surviving today than ever before. Now we must build on this public-health success to push for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."
The poverty-reduction MDGs include a commitment to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015.
UNICEF attributed the gains to the widespread adoption of basic health measures, including early and exclusive breast-feeding, measles immunization, vitamin-A supplementation, and use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria.
But Veneman warned against complacency. "The loss of 9.7 million young lives each year is unacceptable. Most of these deaths are preventable and, as recent progress shows, the solutions are tried and tested," she said. "We know that lives can be saved when children have access to integrated, community-based health services, backed by a strong referral system."
Sharp drops have been reported in many countries since the previous surveys conducted in 1999 to 2000, with Morocco, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic cutting their under-five mortality rates by more than a third, while Madagascar did so by 41 percent and Sao Tome and Principe by 48 percent. Of the 9.7 million children who died in 2006, 3.1 million hailed from south Asia and 4.8 million from sub-Saharan Africa.
The surveys also showed that child mortality in the developing world is much higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households.
The Latin American and Caribbean region is on course to achieve the child mortality MDG, with 27 deaths on average for every 1,000 live births compared with 55 per 1,000 in 1990. Significant progress was also reported in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with under-five mortality down 29 percent between 2000 and 2004 in Malawi. In Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, and Tanzania rates declined by more than 20 percent last year. Child-mortality rates were highest in west and central Africa while in southern Africa hard-won gains were undermined by the spread of HIV/AIDS.
UNICEF said the figures compiled from a range of national data sources buttress reports of progress released earlier this year on measles mortality, with a 60-percent cut in measles deaths since 1999, and a 75-percent reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.
The UN agency, however, lamented that undernutrition remains an underlying cause in more than half of all deaths of children under five.
"Simple solutions to address undernutrition can make a real difference to the lives of millions of children," said Veneman. "Early initiation of breast-feeding and exclusive breast-feeding in the first six months of life could prevent the deaths of over one million children under the age of five each year."
Timely introduction of nutrient-rich and fortified complementary foods at six months could prevent a further six percent of deaths of children under five.
Meanwhile, a study published by The Lancet said the world will fall badly short of meeting the MDGs on child mortality. The paper, lead-authored by Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said that the world is on course for a reduction of only 27 percent by 2015.
By 2015, Central Africa, which has the highest rates of all, may even have greater child mortality compared with 1990. It is projected to have 228 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 209 deaths per 1,000 in 1990. In Southern Africa, the mortality rate will be virtually unchanged, at 69.2 deaths per 1,000 in 2015, compared with 71.0 per 1,000 in 1990.
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