- Despite the substantial reduction in the number of deaths observed in recent decades, around 10.6 million children die every year before reaching their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries.
- Most deaths among children under five years are still attributable to just a handful of conditions and are avoidable through existing interventions.
- Just a very few conditions account for 70% to over 90% of all these deaths. These are: lower respiratory infections, mostly pneumonia; diarrhea; malaria; measles: HIV/AIDS, and neonatal conditions, mainly pre-term birth, birth asphyxia, and infections.
- Malnutrition increases the risk of dying from these diseases. Over half of all child deaths occur in children who are underweight.
- The relative importance of the various causes of death has changed, with the decline in mortality from diarrhoea and many of the vaccine-preventable diseases. The relative contribution of HIV/AIDS to the total mortality of children under 5 years of age, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, has been increasing steadily. In 1990 it accounted for around 2% of mortality in the African region among children under 5 years of age, but in 2003 the figure had reached about 6.5%.
Summarizing data across regions and countries masks substantial differences in the distribution of causes of deaths.
- Approximately 90% of all malaria and HIV/AIDS deaths in children, more than 50% of measles deaths and about 40% of pneumonia and diarrhea deaths are in the African region.
- In contrast, deaths from injuries and non-communicable diseases other than congenital anomalies account for 20-30% of deaths among children under 5 years of age in the region of Americas, and in the European and Western Pacific regions.
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