HQ Team
January 11, 2023: A child or youth died every 4.4 seconds in 2021 and about five million children died before their fifth birthday, due to labor complications or infectious diseases, according to two separate WHO reports.
Another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to data released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
In a separate report, the group found that 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period.
“Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma of losing their children, sometimes even before their first breath,” said Vidhya Ganesh, UNICEF Director of the Division of Data Analytics, Planning and Monitoring.
“Such widespread, preventable tragedy should never be accepted as inevitable. Progress is possible with stronger political will and targeted investment in equitable access to primary health care for every woman and child.”
Most child deaths occur in the first five years, half within the first month of life.
Premature birth
Premature birth and complications during labour are the leading causes of death. More than 40% of stillbirths occur during delivery – most of which are preventable when women have access to quality care throughout pregnancy and birth.
For children, who survive past their first 28 days, infectious diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria pose the biggest threat.
Without swift action to improve health services, almost 59 million children and youth will die before 2030, and nearly 16 million babies will die due to stillbirth, according to the reports.
The reports show that children continue to face differentiating chances of survival based on where they are born, with sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia shouldering the heaviest burden.
Though sub-Saharan Africa had just 29% of global live births, the region accounted for 56% of all under-five deaths in 2021, and southern Asia for 26% of the total.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the world’s highest risk of childhood death – 15 times higher than the risk for children in Europe and northern America.
Mothers in these two regions have an exceptional stillbirth rate, with 77% of all stillbirths in 2021 occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.
The risk of a woman having a stillborn baby in sub-Saharan Africa is seven times more likely than in Europe and North America.
“It is grossly unjust that a child’s chances of survival can be shaped just by their place of birth and that there are such vast inequities in their access to lifesaving health services,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the WHO.
Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population World Bank, said: “Behind these numbers are millions of children and families who are denied their basic health rights.”
Covid-19 pandemic
Covid-19 has not directly increased childhood mortality. But, it has disrupted vaccination campaigns, nutrition services, and access to primary health care, which could jeopardize the children’s health and well-being for many years.
The pandemic has fuelled the largest continued to backslide in vaccination in three decades, putting the most vulnerable newborns and children at greater risk of dying from preventable diseases.
