Children Deaths UNICEF Flashcards
How many children die each day worldwide?
Child survival lies at the heart of everything UNICEF does.
About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day, mainly from preventable causes.
More than 70 per cent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhoea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth.
These deaths occur mainly in the developing world.
Which country has the largest death rate of children under five?
An Ethiopian child is 30 times more likely to die by his or her fifth birthday than a child in Western Europe. Among deaths in children, South-central Asia has the highest number of neonatal deaths, while sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates. Two-thirds of deaths occur in just 10 countries.
How many children die each year worldwide?
Is this preventable?
And the majority are preventable. Some of the deaths occur from illnesses like measles, malaria or tetanus. Others result indirectly from marginalization, conflict and HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition and the lack of safe water and sanitation contribute to half of all these children’s deaths.
But disease isn’t inevitable, nor do children with these diseases need to die. Research and experience show that six million of the almost 11 million children who die each year could be saved by low-tech, evidence-based, cost-effective measures such as vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed nets and improved family care and breastfeeding practices.
How many children die in their very first week of life?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), poor neonatal conditions are the most prominent cause of young deaths. Four million babies per year die in the first week of life. In response, UNICEF advocates for and promotes programmes to increase rates of exclusive breastfeeding. The strongest foundation of baby health is nutrition, and the best food for newborns is breast milk. Breastfeeding protects babies from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, stimulates their immune systems and improves response to vaccinations, and contains many hundreds of health-enhancing molecules, enzymes, proteins and hormones.
Is breast feeding and sanitation a standard practice in these countries?
Proper infant feeding and breast feeding are still not practiced by many families. As many as 40 per cent of child deaths could be prevented with improved family and community care – not high-tech health equipment, but access to solid knowledge, support and basic supplies.
