World falling short on promise to reduce child deaths

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Title: World falling short on promise to reduce child deaths
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SDA-RF-CH-1B.4

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"Arun Gupta" <arun@ibfan-asiapacific.org>
"PHA Group" <pha-ncc@yahoogroups.com>
Monday, November 15, 2004 3:24 PM
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http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24252.html

World falling short on promise to reduce child deaths
With Goal of Two-Thirds Reduction by 2015, 98 Countries Are Off the Mark; AIDS and Conflict
Send Some Nations Spiralling in Wrong Direction
NEW YORK, 7 October 2004 - New country-by-country data reveals alarmingly slow progress on
reducing child deaths despite the availability of proven, low-cost interventions, a UNICEF survey
revealed today. UNICEF said that while 90 countries are on track to meet the target of reducing
child deaths by two-thirds by 2015, 98 countries are considerably off track, and globally the pace of
progress is far too slow.
At the current rate of progress, the average global under-five death rate will have dropped by roughly
one-quarter by 2015, far below the two-thirds reduction agreed to by world leaders.
“A child’s right to survive is the first measure of equality, possibility, and freedom,” UNICEF
Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, launching Progress for Children in New York. “It is
incredible that in an age of technological and medical marvels, child survival is so tenuous in so
many places, especially for the poor and marginalized. We can do better than this.”
Progress for Children ranks countries on their average annual rate of progress since 1990, which is
the baseline year for the global goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 - a goal
agreed to by all governments as part of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
Child mortality refers to the number of children who die before their fifth birthday, and is measured
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per 1,000 live births. For example, in. 2002, the
most recent year for which comprehensive data is
available, industrialized countries had an average child mortality rate of 7 deaths per 1,00Q live
1 births; the least developed countries had a rate of 158 deaths per 1,000 births. UNICEF considers
child mortality rates the basic measure of a country’s advancement.
The regional tables in the report provide comparisons of how quickly or slowly nations have made
progress on child mortality between 1990 and 2002. The goal of a two-thirds reduction assumed an
average annual rate of progress of roughly 4.4 per cent between 1990 and 2015 . The report reveals
that no region has meTthat standardUhough nearly 50 individual countries have. Some 78 countries
have failed to average even two percent progress per year in reducing child mortality.
The figures make clear that those countries that have fallen short on progress since 1990 now have a
much more daunting task. At least 39 countries must now reduce mortality by more than 8 per cent
per year, on average, during the remaining years to 2015 in order to reach the goal.
Heading in Reverse
Child mortality rates vary considerably among regions and countries, but the most disturbing
findings are those countries whose annual rate of progress has been negative; in other words, they
are heading in reverse, with rising child mortality rates. In several countries in sub-Saharan Africa

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* and the Commonwealth of Independent States, children are less likely to make it to their fifth
birthdays than they were in 1990.
HIV/AIDS remains one of the chief underlying causes affecting child mortality trends, particularly in
suh^Saharah Africa. Botswana^ZimBabwe and Swaziland, which registered the second, third and
fourth fastest increases in under-five deaths, also have the world’s highest national HIV prevalence
rates - about 37, 25 and 39 per cent, respectively. Other key factors behind spiking child mortality
rates, as in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, are the effects of armed conflict and social instability.
Despite a slight improvement, Sierra Leone continues to have the world’s highest rate of child
mortality, with more than one in four children dying before age five (284 deaths per 1,000 births
annually).
Latm America and Caribbean countries have seen the most substantial improvement on average,
although alarming gaps are opening up within countries there. Poverty and discrimination are
preventing large groups of children within these countries from accessing basic services.
Malaysia, Malta and Egypt have made the most dramatic leaps forward overall, although Egypt is
still battling polio. Iraq has lost the most ground since 1990.
Root Causes
Inadequate birthing conditions - meanmgjittleor.no health care for mothers, andjhe^lack of skilled
attendants during deliveries - cause the largest proportion of preventable deaths. Infectious and
parasitic diseases, such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, followed by malaria and
measles are the next biggest killers. Acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea are at the root of
roughly one-third of child deaths.
Malnutrition contributesjto more than half of all child deaths. Unsafe water and poor sanitation are
alsoTontnbutihgTactors.
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“The world has the tools to improve child survival, if only it would use them,” Bellamy said.
“Vaccines, micronutrient supplements and insecticide-treated mosquito nets don’t cost much, and
would save millions of children. But not enouglfchiTdren^re being reached with these basic lifesavers. That’s what has to change. No government should be allowed to let another ten years pass
with so little progress for children. Leaders have agreed to goals and they must be held
accountable.”
Regionally, much of the Middle East and Northern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and
East Asia and the Pacific are on track to reach the goal. But Central and Eastern Europe, South Asia,
and sub-Saharan Africa will require dramatic measures if they are to come close.
****

For further information, please contact:
Alfred Ironside, UNICEF, Media New York: (1-212) 326-7261,
Oliver Phillips, UNICEF Media, New York: (1-212) 326-7583,

Marixie Mercado, UNICEF Media, New York: (1-212) 326-7133
CF/DOC/PR/2004-095

Dr. Arun Gupta, MD, FIAP,
National Coordinator, BPNI

16-Nov-04

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• Regional Coordinator IBFAN Asia Pacific
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more than 200 public interest groups working around the world to save lives of infants and young children by working
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