A mother’s education is key in determining whether her children will survive their first five years of life.
In the 2011 Millennium Development Goals report, the highest levels of under-five mortality continue to be found in sub-SaharanAfrica, where one in eight children dies before the age of five.
In all developing regions, children of mothers with some education are at less risk of dying.
A child’s chances of surviving increase even further if their mother has a secondary or higher education.
In addition to education, child survival rates can also be improved by increasing equity in other social services.
Empowering women, removing financial and social barriers to welfare, encouraging innovations to make critical services more available to the poor and increasing the accountability of health systems at the local level are examples of policy interventions that could improve equity, with benefits for child survival.
Despite substantial progress in reducing child deaths, children from rural households are still at a disadvantage, according to household survey data from 80 countries. This holds true for all developing countries.
Disparities are most pronounced in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (excluding China), where overall child mortality is low.
According to data from 66 countries, children from the poorest households are also at a disadvantage when it comes to surviving their first five years of life.
In the developing countries as a whole, children from the poorest 20% of households have more than twice the risk of dying before their fifth birthday as children in the richest 20% of households.
The greatest disparities are found in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Eastern and South Eastern Asia (excluding China), where the risk is nearly three times as high.
Steady progress is being made in reducing child deaths. Globally, the mortality rate for children under five has declined by a third, from 89 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 60 in 2009. All countries, except sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Oceania, have seen reductions of at least 50 per cent.
Despite population growth, the number of deaths in children under five worldwide declined from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009, which translates into nearly 12,000 fewer children dying each day.
The greatest success is found in Northern Africa and Eastern Asia, where under-five mortality declined by 68 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively.
Among countries with high under-five mortality (above 40 deaths per 1,000 live births), 10 countries reduced their rates by at least half.
Among them, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Nepal and TimorLeste recorded a 60 per cent drop or more.
The highest levels of under-five mortality continue to be found in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in eight children die before the age of five (129 deaths per 1,000 live births), nearly twice the average in developing regions overall and around 18 times the average in developed regions.
With rapid progress in other regions, the disparities between them and sub-Saharan Africa have widened. Southern Asia has the second highest rate—69 deaths per 1,000 live births or about one child in 14.
All of the 31 countries with under-five mortality of at least 100 deaths per 1,000 live births, except Afghanistan, are in sub-Saharan Africa.
At the same time, major inroads are being made. Four of the ten countries with more than a 50 per cent reduction in child deaths between 1990 and 2009 are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Furthermore, five of the six countries with a reduction of more than 100 deaths per 1,000 live births are in this region.
Increasing evidence suggests that the MDG target can be reached, but only with substantial and accelerated action to eliminate the leading killers of children.
In sub-Saharan Africa, diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia are responsible for more than half the deaths of children under five.
In Southern Asia, over half of all childhood deaths occur in the first 28 days after birth, pointing to the need for better post-natal care. In both regions, under nutrition is an underlying cause of a third of these deaths.
Special efforts to fight pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, while bolstering nutrition, could save the lives of millions of children.
The Millennium Development Goals report is based on a master set of data compiled by an Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators led by the Department of Economic and Social affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, in response to the wishes of the General assembly for periodic assessment of progress towards the MDGs.
The Group comprises representatives of the international organizations whose activities include the preparation of one or more of the series of statistical indicators that were identified as appropriate for monitoring progress towards the MDGs.
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