- During 2021, a total of five million boys and girls died before their fifth birthday.
- While another 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period.
- Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are currently the regions with the highest rates of infant mortality.
The development of vaccines has positioned itself as one of the most important inventions in contemporary Medicine. Its relevance can be appreciated in the fight against infant mortality because infants with complete schemes have a lower risk of dying than the rest. But although great advances have been made globally, there is still a long way to go.
Magnitude of the problem at present
As an example, it is enough to look at the most recent results of the report prepared by the United Nations Interagency Group for the Estimation of Child Mortality (IGME). According to estimates, during 2021 a total of five million boys and girls died before their fifth birthday. While another 2.1 million young people between the ages of 5 and 24 lost their lives in the same period.
In a separate report, it was revealed that 1.9 million babies were stillborn in 2021. From the above it is obtained that a child or adolescent dies every 4.4 seconds somewhere in the world. Many of these tragic deaths could have been prevented if mothers, newborns, adolescents and children had equitable access to high-quality healthcare.
“Every day too many mothers and fathers are dealing with the trauma of losing their children, sometimes before they even take their first breath. Such a widespread and preventable tragedy should never be accepted as inevitable,” said Vidhya Ganesh, Director of UNICEF’s Division of Data, Analysis, Planning and Monitoring.
For their part, the reports also show some positive results. Since the year 2000, the risk of mortality has decreased at all ages worldwide. The rate in children under five years of age has been reduced by 50% worldwide since the beginning of the century.
While the mortality rates of older children and youth decreased by 36% and the stillbirth rate decreased by 35%. This can be attributed to increased investments in strengthening primary health systems for the benefit of women, children and youth.
However, progress has slowed significantly since 2010 and 54 countries will miss the target of the Sustainable Development Goals related to the mortality of children under five years of age. If swift action is not taken to improve health services, almost 59 million children and young people will die before 2030, and almost 16 million babies will be stillborn.
Where do most child deaths occur?
According to reports, the chances of survival of children continue to be very different depending on where they are born. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions with the highest rates of infant mortality.
Although only 29% of live births in the world were concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, 56% of all deaths of children under five years of age were registered in this region in 2021. While in South Asia 26% of the total was registered. Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the highest risk of infant mortality in the world, 15 times that of children in Europe and North America.
Mothers living in these two regions also experience the painful loss of babies to stillbirths at an alarming rate: 77% of all recorded stillbirths in 2021 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and almost half of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. The risk of a woman having a stillbirth is seven times higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in Europe and North America.
Access to and availability of quality health care remain matters of life and death for children around the world. Most infant deaths occur in the first five years, and half of them in the first month of life.
For the smallest babies, premature birth and complications during delivery are the leading causes of mortality. Similarly, more than 40% of stillbirths occur during childbirth, although most could be prevented if women had access to quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. For children who survive beyond their first 28 days, infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria pose the greatest threat.
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