Unicef says under-5 mortality rates down 53 percent over last 25 years

Under-five mortality rates has halved over the last quarter of a century, dropping to below 6 million for the first time this year, according to a report published by the World Health Organisation and Unicef.

Although the figure is in stark contrast to the 12.7 million under-five deaths in 1990, aid and donor organisations said a lot has to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction between 1990 and 2015.

“We have to acknowledge tremendous global progress, especially since 2000, when many countries have tripled the rate of reduction of under-five mortality,” said Unicef Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta about the 53 percent drop. 

The Levels and Trends in the Child Mortality Report 2015 released by Unicef, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank Group, and the Population Division of UNDESA, indicate that 16,000 children under five still die every day.

“But the far too large number of children still dying from preventable causes before their fifth birthday – and indeed within their first month of life – should impel us to redouble our efforts to do what we know needs to be done. We cannot continue to fail them,” Gupta said.

A massive 45 per cent of under-five deaths occur in the neonatal period – the first 28 days of life, the report pointed out, terming prematurity, pneumonia, complications during labour and delivery, diarrhoea, sepsis, and malaria as leading causes.

Nearly half of all under-five deaths are associated with malnutrition.

The report highlights that a child’s chance of survival still depends vastly on where he or she is born.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 1 in 12 children dying before his or her fifth birthday – more than 12 times higher than the average of 1 in 147 in high-income countries.

Meanwhile, according to the UN, Bangladesh has already achieved the target of reducing under-five mortality rates. It was 44 per 1,000 live births in 2011, while the target was 48 for 2015.

The UNDP claimed successful immunisation programmes, control of diarrhoea and Vitamin A supplements were the most significant contributors to the decline in child and infant deaths in the country.