Child mortality rates declining worldwide

MANILA, Philippines – Less children under five years old died last year compared to previous years, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

In a statement, Unicef said under-five mortality worldwide has gone down from 12.7 million in 1960 to 9.2 million in 2007.

“The new data show that the downward trend continues,” the statement said.

“In industrialized countries, there are, on the average, just six deaths for every 1,000 live births.”

Under-nutrition accounts for more than one-third of the 9.2 million under-five mortality around the world, Unicef said.

However, Ann Veneman, Unicef executive director, said some 148 million children in the developing world remain undernourished.

“To ensure they have the opportunity to survive, efforts to address the nutritional needs of women, infants and children must be accelerated,” she noted.

Veneman said among the countries that made “good progress” are Laos, Bangladesh, Bolivia and Nepal.

“These countries are on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal target to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate between 1990 to 2015,” she said.

Each of them had reduced by more than 50 percent their under-five death rates since 1990, she added.

Veneman said the Philippines had made good progress by posting a 54 percent drop in under-five deaths since 1990.

However, the country should not be complacent because in 2006, almost 90,000 children died before their fifth birthday, she added. 

Veneman said some 71 percent of these deaths occur in the first year of the children.            – Sheila Crisostomo