Five million children died before their fifth birthday in 2021, finds UN report

UNITED NATIONS: Five million children died before turning five last year, nearly half dying before their first birthday, according to a new report published by the UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality.

The report, published on Tuesday, shows a drop in mortality rates since the year 2000, but says that not enough progress has been made over the last 12 years.“Sadly, the 2.3 million newborns who died in the first month of life isn’t a significant reduction from the 2.5 million babies who died in their first month in 2017,” Dr Vandana Tripathi, director of a family planning programme at NGO EngenderHealth, told Guardian.

Death figures are the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where children are more 15 times more likely to die in childhood compared to their North American and European counterparts. Despite significant reductions in maternal mortality, sub-Saharan African still has a long way to go in providing quality childbirth care.