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Progress against child mortality ‘unfinished’
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The mortality rate for children younger than 5 years has been reduced worldwide, but stronger leadership, improvements in equity and monitoring, and vast interventions are still necessary, according to a review published in The Lancet.
Despite a 7% increase in the number of children younger than 5 years in less-developed countries, the number of child deaths decreased from 10.8 million to 7.6 million between 2000 and 2010. Since the last report published in 2003, the researchers marked a shift in causes of death from diarrhea, pneumonia and measles to neonatal deaths.
Most of these deaths continue to occur in low- and middle-income countries. Sub-Saharan Africa represented 48% of child deaths in 2010 due to the “toxic mix of population growth” and inequities in coverage, the researchers wrote.
The 2003 report suggested interventions such as pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines, chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care, insecticide-treated bed nets and better diagnostics. The current report condones further research, improvements and assessments of these interventions.
The researchers wrote that epidemiology and monitoring are necessary to provide evidence for progress; however, they found fault with the techniques for which these data are obtained.
“We’re seeing an increase in evidence reviews and evaluations done by the same institutions that are implementing health programs,” study researcher Jennifer Bryce, EdD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release. “The objective of evaluations controlled by those implementing a program should be questioned.”
In addition, the report’s post-2015 agenda includes the eradication of preventable child deaths, the need for further monitoring to eradicate equity gaps in coverage and the establishment of stronger U.N. and WHO global health leadership.
“The millions of children who are dying each year continue to represent the biggest missed opportunity in public health, and the attention to this issue should not wane until new knowledge about epidemiology, interventions and service delivery systems has been fully used,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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