Reducing Child Mortality Needs to be a Priority

A new report reveals it's unlikely the goal set to reduce worldwide mortality of children younger than 5 will be met. The authors of the report also report the international community is no better at reducing child mortality than it was 30 years ago.

Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle analyzed data and used computer modeling to predict child mortality rates for 172 countries through the year 2015. Results show, though child death rates are decreasing, the progress is much too slow to meet the goal.

The analysis shows death rates for children younger than 5 have declined from 110 deaths per 1,000 children in 1980 to 72 deaths per 1,000 children in 2005. Worldwide, child mortality has fallen from 13.5 million deaths in 1980 to 9.7 million deaths in 2005. The rate is expected to drop by 27 percent from 1990 to 2015. However, the goal set in the Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) is to reduce child mortality by 67 percent. The predicted 27 percent falls significantly short of that goal.

The authors write many areas in Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia have seen their child mortality rates decline by at least 4 percent every year for the past 35 years. However, researchers write, "Global progress on MDG4 is dominated by slow reductions in sub-Saharan Africa, which also has the slowest rates of decline in fertility."

They write, "According to our estimates, 49 countries have a greater than 75-percent chance of achieving MDG4, and a further 13 countries currently are expected to achieve a mean or median decline in under-5 mortality of at least 67 percent." However, they add, "Ninety-four countries have a less than 20-percent chance of meeting the target." - Source