A good news follows another worrying but hopeful. Hopeful because it urges government officials and the whole society to continue acting. Child mortality in the world has been reduced by almost half since 1990, despite the fact that 18,000 children under the age of five continue to die every day, according to a UN report.
Today it is known that between 1990 and 2012, the number of infant deaths increased from 12.6 to 6.6 million worldwide, that is, a fall of 47.8%, according to data from the study carried out in collaboration with UNICEF , the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank.
And although we touched half, the Millennium Development Goal 4 has not yet been achieved, which was proposed to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the mortality of children under five. And it is that infant mortality continues to fall, but not quickly enough to reach that goal.
For go down the number of infant deaths Measures such as the expansion of vaccination programs, the promotion of breastfeeding, the distribution of mosquito nets in certain African countries have worked… But much remains to be done, and UNICEF and WHO continue to work in collaboration with the various governments .
Therefore, in the latest Millennium Development Goals Report we are told that:
The achievements in children's survival have been remarkable, but more needs to be done to fulfill our obligation to the younger generations. (…) Faster advances are needed to meet the 2015 goal of reducing child mortality by two thirds. Increasingly, infant mortality is concentrated in the poorest regions and in the first month of life.
The 6.6 million children who still die every year before their fifth birthday, do so mainly because of "preventable and curable" diseases, even when knowledge and treatments are available.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of infant mortality (17% of cases), followed by complications related to premature births (15%), those associated with childbirth (10%) and diarrhea (9%). Globally, 45% of deaths before the age of five are due to malnutrition, according to the report.
Half of child deaths are concentrated in five countries (India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan and China), and sub-Saharan Africa remains the region of the planet that has registered the least progress in reducing neonatal mortality ( in the first month of life).
Large inequalities persist, between developed and developing ones. And the current scenario of global economic crisis does not help rich countries worry too much about helping the most disadvantaged.
Although we stay with him hopeful data of the reduction of infant mortality in the world and the possible solutions, the struggle that must be continued to continue saving the lives of children.
