Child Mortality Rates Down Worldwide

25/5/10

Worldwide mortality in children under the age of 5 has dropped from 11.9 million deaths in 1990 to an estimated 7.7 million deaths in 2010, according to a new report from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ( http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/ ). 
As part of the study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers at IHME and the University of Queensland generated estimates of under-5 mortality rates -- the risk of a newborn dying by age 5 for every 1,000 live births -- in 187 countries. In 1990, twelve countries had an under-5 mortality rate of more than 200 deaths per 1,000 live births, while today no country has an under-5 mortality rate that high.
Moreover, in thirteen regions of the world, including sub- Saharan Africa, there is evidence of accelerating declines. Indeed, within sub-Saharan Africa rates of decline have improved by at least a full percentage point over the past decade.
Overall, thirty-one developing countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, and Egypt, are on pace to meet the Millennium Development Goal to reduce child deaths by 66 per- cent by 2015.
"Previous estimates had shown child deaths falling slowly and neonatal deaths nearly at a standstill," said IHME assistant professor of global health Julie Knoll Rajaratnam, lead author of the study. "We were able to double the amount of data and improve the accuracy of our estimates to find that children are doing better today than at any time in recent history, especially in the first month of life."
"Unexpected Decline in Newborn Mortality Drives Child Deaths Below 8 Million." Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Press Release 5/24/10. http://bit.ly/csOqMu  http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=295500025