International Perspective mortality rate – the probability of a child dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births – are shaped by a myriad of socialeconomic disadvantages. Child survival chances follow the contours of education levels of the mother, ethnicity and the rural-urban divide among other factors.
African countries occupy the top 10 positions in global under-five mortality rankings, the child report shows. Angola, highest ranked country in the global under-five- mortality rate, has a rate of 157 deaths per 1000 live births. Chad and Somalia complete the first three positions of the highest global under five mortality rates of 139 and 137 respectively.
“ A child born in Sierra Leone today is about 30 times more likely to die before age 5 than a child born in the United Kingdom. Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are 12 times more likely than their counterparts in high-income countries to die before their fifth birthday, just as they were in 1990,” the report reads.
UNICEF calls for countries to accelerate progress pace in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs)
noting that“ to meet the 2030 goals, the pace of progress in the next 15 years will have to outpace that of the Millennium Development Goals( MDGs) period.”
Further, UNICEF warns of“ enormous” consequences and costs if the rate of implementing the SDGs fails to outpace that of MDGs. The report estimates that 70 million children under age 5 will die between 2016 and 2030. If the trends of the past 15 years continue for the next one and a half decades, the report says,“ 3.6 million children will die in 2030 alone, the deadline year for the Sustainable Development Goals.
“ Children in sub-Saharan Africa will be 10 times more likely to die before their fifth birthdays than children in highincome countries.”
“ By 2030, an estimated 167 million children, the great majority in sub- Saharan Africa, will still be living in extreme poverty.” UNICEF says in the report.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey( KDHS) 2014, infant mortality rate in Kenya stands at 39 deaths per 1,000 live births while under-5 mortality stands at 52 deaths per 1,000 live births.
However, UNICEF slots Kenya at number 49 th in the world with an under five mortality rate of 46, better off 28 places from Burundi which has the highest under-5- mortality rate in Eastern Africa at 82 deaths per 1000 live births. Uganda is ranked 40 th with an under-5- mortality rate of 55 while Tanzania is placed 46 th with a mortality rate of 49.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, Nyanza region has the highest under-5 mortality in Kenya recording 82 deaths while Nairobi is second with 72 deaths per 1000 live births. Central Kenya has an under-five mortality rate of 42 deaths per 1,000 live births, the lowest in the country. In Kenya,“ the highest under-5 mortality rate by education is among those born to mothers with an incomplete primary education( 63 deaths per 1,000 live births).” KDHS states.
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