Child death rate drops by half but misses UN goal

Child mortality rate around the world has dropped by more than half ‎since 1990 but not enough to reach the United Nations goal of a two-thirds reduction by 2015, ‎according to a new report released this week.    New figures show that under-five deaths fell from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million this ‎year, the first time the figure has gone below 6 million. ‎  But despite the decline, 16,000 children under the age of five still die every day, according to the ‎report by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group, ‎and the U.N.'s Population Division.‎

Based on the data, UNICEF reported that 48 million lives of under-five youngsters have been saved ‎since governments committed to achieve the U.N. goal in 2000.‎  World leaders are expected to adopt a new set of goals for the next 15 years at a U.N. summit later this ‎month. UNICEF said 38 million more lives of young children can be saved if progress to reduce child ‎mortality is accelerated.‎

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta said that since 2000 many countries tripled the ‎rate of reduction of under-five mortality.‎  ‎``But the far too large number of children still dying from preventable causes before their fifth birthday ‎‎_ and indeed within their first month of life _ should impel us to redouble our efforts to do what we ‎know needs to be done,'' she said.‎

The report entitled, “Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2015,” noted that the biggest challenge remains the first 28 days of life, when a massive 45 ‎percent of under-five deaths occur.‎  The leading causes of deaths of children under five are premature birth, pneumonia, complications ‎during labor and delivery, malaria and sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection, ‎the report said, and nearly half the deaths are associated with ``under-nutrition.''‎  The report highlights that a child's chance of survival is vastly difference based on its birthplace. ‎

In sub-Saharan Africa, one child in 12 dies before his or her fifth birthday, the highest rate in the world ‎and more than 12 times higher than the one in 147 average for under-five deaths in high-income ‎countries, the report said.‎