LONDON: The number of children globally who died before their fifth birthday dropped to a record low of 4.9 million in 2022, but that still represents one death every six seconds, according to new United Nations estimates. While the mortality rate for under-5s has roughly halved since 2000, the world is still behind in the goal of reducing preventable deaths in that age group by 2030, and progress has slowed since 2015, the report, released on Wednesday, (March 13) found.
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The numbers represent “an important milestone”, said Juan Pablo Uribe, director for health nutrition and population at the World Bank, one of the partners that put together the report alongside UNICEF, the U.N. population division and the World Health Organization.
But this is simply not enough.
The picture is varied. Some countries, like Cambodia, Malawi and Mongolia, have reduced under-5 mortality rates by more than 75 per cent since 2000.
The report said,
Overall, deaths in babies and children under-5 in 2022 were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, which represented 57 per cent of the global total despite only making up 30% of the live births that year. Southern Asia had around a quarter of both deaths and live births. Around half of the deaths globally are among newborns.
The report was limited by a lack of data in the worst-affected countries, the U.N. partners added.
The deaths were largely caused by preventable or treatable causes, such as pre-term birth, pneumonia or diarrhea. Better access to primary health care and community health workers could vastly improve the outlook, the U.N. said, although climate change, increasing inequity, conflict and the long-term fall-out of COVID-19 could all threaten progress.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
