World’s Annual Child Mortality Rate Falling – UN report

The annual number of children who die before they reach age five is shrinking, falling to 7.6 million global deaths in 2010 from more than 12 million in 1990.

UNICEF and the World Health Organisation said Wednesday, that overall, 12,000 fewer children under age five die each day than a decade ago.

The groups said in their annual report on child mortality, that even in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of child mortality is greatest, the rate of improvement has more than doubled in the past decade, a sign that even the poorest regions can make progress.

Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in a statement said that in spite of the improvement, more than 21,000 children die every day from preventable causes.

“Focusing greater investment on the most disadvantaged communities will help us save more children’s lives, more quickly and more cost effectively,” Lake said.

Between 1990 and 2010, the annual number of deaths in children under five fell to 57 per 1,000 births in 2010, from 88 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990.

Even so, improvements in child mortality rates will not be enough to meet the UN goal set in 2000 of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, and the groups say more money is needed.

“This is proof that investing in children’s health is money well spent, and a sign that we need to accelerate that investment through the coming years,” Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation said in a statement.

She said many factors were contributing to reductions in child mortality, including better access to healthcare for newborns, prevention and