Goal 4: reduce child mortality
Target 5
Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
- Health indicator 13: Under-five mortality rate
- Health indicator 14: Infant mortality rate
- Health indicator 15:Proportion of one-year-old children immunized against measles
The context
- Close to 11 million children die every year before reaching the age of five, or 20 per minute,30,000 per day. Nearly 4 million of these die in the first 28 days of life.
- Most of the deaths are due to a handful of causes (pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, malaria, and neonatal causes).
- Malnutrition is associated with 54% of the deaths.
- 99% of the deaths are in low and middle-income countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
- Measles deaths world-wide dropped by nearly 40% between 1999 and 2003, with the largest reduction in Africa.
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Measuring progress
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United Nations Statistics Division
WHO’s work
Reaching the MDG on reducing child mortality will require universal coverage with key effective, affordable interventions: nurturing newborns and their mothers; infant and young child feeding; vaccines; case management of diarrhoea; antibiotics for pneumonia and sepsis; and malaria control.
In countries with high mortality, these interventions could reduce the number of deaths by half. To deliver these interventions, WHO promotes three main strategies:
- Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)
- Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and
- Infant and young child feeding.
Attention to newborn health is being increasingly incorporated into each of these delivery strategies, complemented by interventions included in Making Pregnancy Safer.
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Immunization
Roughly one-quarter of the 2002 under-five mortality rate is attributable to vaccine-preventable diseases.
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Measles
More than 6 million children could be saved each year if they were reached by a small set of existing and effective preventive and curative interventions and appropriate home care.
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Future directions
New opportunities are arising to turn the tide. One of these is the strong commitment and partnerships among international agencies, bilateral agencies, and governments of countries with high under-five mortality.
As part of its renewed commitment, WHO dedicated the World health report 2005 and World Health Day 2005 to maternal, newborn and child health.
The report estimates that the total additional cost for achieving universal coverage with the essential interventions, accumulated over 10 years, will be $52.4 billion.
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Related links
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Health topic: child health
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Immunizations, Vaccines and Biologicals
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Health topic: measles
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WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition
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Making Pregnancy Safer
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World Health Report 2005
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