According to the new UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) report, the Child Mortality Rate in India has declined substantially between 1990 and 2019. The report further adds that however, India along with Nigeria is still accounted for almost a third of all under-five deaths in 2019.
The latest released report by the UN agency has also warned that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo the decades of progress in eliminating the preventable child deaths globally.
As per the UN released ‘The Levels & Trends in Child Mortality’ Report 2020 the number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lower point on record in 2019 down to 5.2 million from 12.5 million in 1990.
“The global community has come too far towards eliminating preventable child deaths to allow the #COVID19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks,” says @unicefchief.https://t.co/b2bIqlyhCY
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 9, 2020
Decline in Child Mortality Rate in India: Highlights
• As per the new mortality estimates that have been released by UNICEF, the population division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, the under-five mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) in India has seen a decline to 34 in 2019 from 126 in 1990.
• India has registered a 4.5% annual rate of reduction in under-five mortality between 1990-2019. The number of under-five deaths in India has dropped from 3.4 million in 1990 to 8,24,000 in 2019.
• The infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) in India has declined from 89 in 1990 to 28 in 2019, with the nation registering 6,79,000 infant deaths in 2019. It is a significant decline from 2.4 million infant deaths in 1990.
• India has also witnessed a decrease in neonatal mortality rates between 1990 and 2019 from 57 to 22.
• The probability of dying among children aged 5-14 years declined from 21 in 1990 to 5 in 2019 (4,47,000 deaths in 1990 to 1,36,000 deaths in 2019).
• The probability of dying among the youth aged between 15-24 years has also dipped from 4,07,000 deaths in 1990 to 2,46,000 deaths in 2019.
• Also, in India, the sex-specific under-five mortality rate in 1990 stood at 122 males and 131 females. It has now declined to 34 males and 35 females in 2019.
Child mortality rate in other countries:
• The regions of Central and Southern Asia and Oceania (excluding New Zealand and Australia) both saw a faster decline in the under-five mortality rate from 2010-2019 compared to 2000-2009.
• The global burden of under-five deaths weighs most heavily on two regions- Central and Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• As per the report, about 53% of all under-five deaths in 2019 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa and roughly 1.5 million children died in 2019 before reaching age five in Central and Southern Asia.
• In 2019, nearly half (49 percent) of all under-five deaths occurred in just five countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, and Ethiopia. India and Nigeria have alone accounted for almost a third.
Threat of COVID-19 on child and maternal health services:
The report released by UNICEF adds that the countries worldwide have now been experiencing the disruptions in child and maternal health services such as vaccinations, health check-ups, and pre-natal and post-natal care because of the resource constraints and a general uneasiness of using health services due to the fear of getting Coronavirus.
As per the UNICEF Executive Director, the global community has come too far towards eliminating the child deaths to allow the COVID-19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks.
Going on the current trends, about 48 million children under the age of 5 years will die between 2020 and 2030, half of them newborns. More than half of these 48 million deaths will occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and around 25% in Central and Southern Asia.
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