Child health
Reducing child mortality to achieve MDG 4: 7.6 million children under five years of age died in 2010 – nearly 21 000 children each day and almost 900 every hour. Progress has been made in recent decades, but is unequally distributed across regions and countries and within countries. Important challenges remain for the global goal to be achieved. About 70 percent of the world’s under-five deaths in 2010 occurred in only 15 countries, and about half in only five countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. India (22 percent) and Nigeria (11 percent) together account for a third of under-five deaths worldwide.
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Causes of death
58%of deaths in children under age five are caused by infectious diseases. Pneumonia is the largest single cause of death in under-fives.
Causes of under-five mortalityPreventing under-five deaths
78%of children with suspected pneumonia are taken for treatment to an appropriate care provider
Care seeking for pneumonia