According to the most recent estimates provided today, Thursday, March 14, by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), the number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached an all-time low, decreasing to 4.9 million in 2022.
"Behind these numbers lie the stories of midwives and skilled health personnel helping mothers safely deliver their newborns, health workers vaccinating and protecting children against deadly diseases, and community health workers who make home visits to support families to ensure the right health and nutrition support for children," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
According to the report, there has been a 51 per cent decrease in the global under-5 death rate since 2000, meaning that more children are surviving today than ever before, report ANI and WAM. Outpacing this decline are several low- and lower-middle-income nations, demonstrating that advancement is achievable with enough funding for basic healthcare, which includes the health and well-being of children.
For instance, the results demonstrate that since 2000, under-5 mortality has decreased by more than 75 per cent in Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia, and Rwanda.
However, the results also highlight there is still a long way to go until all preventable child and youth fatalities are eliminated, even with these advancements. Across the world, 2.1 million children and youth between the ages of 5 and 24 also lost their lives, adding to the 4.9 million lives lost before the age of 5, of which, nearly half were that of newborns. Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa saw the majority of these fatalities.
Premature births, complications at the time of the birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria are among the preventable or treatable causes of these unfortunate deaths. Improved access to primary healthcare that was of high quality, including necessary and other services, could have prevented many deaths.
While global statistics reveal encouraging signs of development, a few serious dangers and injustices endanger child life in many parts of the world. These dangers include rising injustice and economic instability, new and protracted conflicts, the escalating impact of climate change, and the consequences of COVID-19, all of which might lead to stagnation or even reversal of progress, as well as the continuous unnecessary death of children.
Children born into the poorest households are twice as likely to die before the age of five as children from the wealthiest households, while children living in fragile or conflict-affected areas are nearly three times as likely to die before their fifth birthday than children elsewhere.
