By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
Child mortality rates worldwide have dropped, pointing to considerate progress made on child survival.
Global child deaths have dropped from 13 million per year in 1990 to below 10 million per year.
The new figures are drawn from a range of national data sources, including two sets of household surveys, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and the Demographic Household Surveys (DHS).
The current round of MICS surveys was conducted in over 50 countries in 2005-06 and together with the USAID-supported Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), are the largest single source of information of the Millennium Development Goals and form the basis of the assessment of progress in child survival, said UNICEF in a statement last week.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said more children were surviving today than ever before and that the world should build on this public health success to push for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Countries worldwide committed themselves to a two-thirds reduction in child mortality between 1990 and 2015, a result which would save an additional 5.4 million children by 2015.
The survey said significant progress has been made in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. In Malawi, under-five mortality has declined 29 percent between 2000 and 2004, while in Namibia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda and Tanzania child mortality rates have declined by more than 20 percent.
In southern Africa, including Namibia, hard-won gains in child survival have been undermined by the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Namibia’s under five mortality rates dropped from 87 percent in 1992 to 71 percent in 2003. The Millennium Development Goals report of 2004 said the target was to reduce the rate further to 54 percent in 2006.
Statistics posted on the UNICEF website indicate that since 1990 to date, under five mortality in Namibia has decreased by 28 percent.
Civil society this year commended current efforts of Government in reducing the infant mortality rate, saying although largely successful but slow, children are under threat due to the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
It said redoubling efforts in primary health care would also contribute positively towards reducing the infant mortality rate as well as the under 5-years mortality rate, since that is the area in which least progress is being made.
Of the 9.7 million children who perish each year, 3.1 million are from South Asia, and 4.8 million are from Sub-Saharan Africa. In developed countries, where there are just six deaths per every 1 000 live births, child mortality is higher among children in rural impoverished households.
Despite this progress, reaching the target of a two-thirds reduction in child mortality across Sub-Saharan Africa will require a 10-fold increase in the annual rate of progress between today and 2015.
Much of the progress is the result of the widespread adoption of basic health interventions, such as early and exclusive breast-feeding, measles immunization, Vitamin A supplementation and the use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria.