International Perspective
African child 30 times more likely to die than European child, UNICEF report reveals
By Stephen Macharia
Inequity threatens the future of millions of children in the world and undermines stability of societies and security of nations, the United Nations has said in a report.
According to the World Children 2016 report released by United Nations Children’ s Fund( UNICEF) last month, 5.9 million children died in 2015 before reaching age 5,“ mostly as a result of diseases that can be readily and affordably prevented and treated.” Pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, meningitis, tetanus, measles, sepsis and AIDS caused nearly half of the deaths according to the report.
Pneumonia and diarrhoea remain leading causes of death in Eastern and Southern Africa, South Asia and West and Central Africa, the regions with the highest under-five mortality rates globally.
In Kenya, pneumonia was the highest killer disease claiming 22,473 lives last year – an increase of over 800 deaths from what was recorded in 2014 – according to the Economic Survey 2015 released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics earlier this year. Malaria ranked second highest killing 20,691 people, a drop of 2,257 deaths from those the disease claimed in 2014.
Writing in the UNICEF report, Executive Director Antony Lake notes that“ Millions of children’ s lives are blighted, for no other reason than the country, the community, the gender or the circumstances into which they are born.” Before their first breath, Lake continues,“ the life chances of poor and excluded children are often being shaped by inequities.”
The report paints a grim picture of Africa where it estimates that 3.6 million children under age 5 will die in 2030, still from mostly preventable causes if“ disparities in maternal health, the availability of skilled birth attendants, adequate nutrition and access to basic services, as well as other factors such as discrimination, exclusion and a lack of knowledge about child feeding and the role of safe water, adequate sanitation and hygiene in preventing childhood disease.”
Globally, trends in under five
56 November-December 2016