The United Nations might have come under a heavy line of fire in recent years after the destruction of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq but there’s one agency that is making it proud. UNICEF, that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries, says that fewer children under the age of are dying thanks to immunisation programmes and anti-malaria measures and adds that child mortality is ‘at record low’.
UNICEF says that worldwide, the number of young children who died in 2006 dropped below 10 million for the first time and much of the credit goes to measles vaccinations, mosquito nets and increased rates of breast-feeding. According to UNICEF figures, which are based on government-conducted surveys in more than 50 countries in 2005 and 2006, 9.7 million children under five died in 2006, down from almost 13 million in 1990.
Remarkable decline in child mortality rate was observed in Morocco, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, where the number of children dying dropped by a third. In sub-Saharan Africa, deaths from measles have been reduced by 75% due to increased vaccination coverage while in Vietnam child mortality rate dropped by 40%.
But UNICEF does acknowledge the there’s still plenty of scope for improvements. The huge prevalence of HIV and AIDS in west and central Africa is reflected in the high child mortality rate in that region and Ann Veneman, UNICEF’s executive director, admits that more needs to be done.
UNICEF has a millennium development goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 and only the Latin American and Caribbean region is on course to achieve the plan whereas sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia are still lagging behind. UNICEF’s head of global health, Peter Salama, says that more investments are needed for the agency to fulfill its ambition and with the success that UNICEF is enjoying at the moment, it would be hard for the global community to ignore its appeal.
Image Source: We Haitians
Source: BBC
