Child health

Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) calls for reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate of children under the age of 5 years by 2015.

Quick facts:

• Developing countries count for 99% of the total number of child deaths in the world (UNICEF - lancet)
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about half the total deaths of children under five in the developing world.
• Almost 90% of all child deaths are attributable to just six conditions: neonatal causes, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS.

How is the goal progressing?

Overall, some progress has been made towards the achievement of MDG4. The total number of under-5 deaths in the world has declined from 12.5 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008. Despite the decline in the number of infant deaths many of these could have been prevented if developing countries had well functioning and resourced health systems.

Among the 67 countries with high mortality rates (40 per 1000 or more), only ten are on track to track to meet MDG4. While progress has been made in Latin America, Africa and Asia combined represent 93% of all under-5 deaths. For African and Asian countries the rate of decline in child mortality is still largely off track.

Many of the causes of under-five mortality in developing countries could be eliminated by simple interventions. Access to clean water and sanitation can reduce child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea; leading causes of child mortality which account for 3·5 million child deaths a year. Basic, cost-effective measures such as vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplements, insecticide-treated bed nets and improved breastfeeding practices would prevent these deaths, but millions still die because they lack access to basic services.