UN Says Five Million Children Worldwide Die Before Fifth Birthday
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VIVA – United Nations (UN) reveals a new number that stated five million children worldwide die before they are 5 in 2021, with almost half, or around 46 percent dying before their first month. Death among infants has not significantly reduced since 2017.
The issue number by the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation of United Nations on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, shows that the death number has reduced since 2000, but the rate of progress has slowed over the past 12 years.
Dr. Vandana Tripathi, director of Momentum's safe operations in family planning and obstetrics program at NGO EngenderHealth, said, "Unfortunately, the 2.3 million newborns who died in the first month of life is not a significant reduction from the 2.5 million babies who died in their first month in 2017."
"This confirms that, despite significant progress in reducing maternal mortality, there is still a great need to strengthen safe and quality maternity care, particularly in obstetric emergencies in sub-Saharan Africa," he added, as quoted by The Guardian, Thursday, January 12, 2023.
Ilustrasi bayi menangis.
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To information, children born in Sub-Saharan Africa are 15 times more likely to die in childhood than children in Europe and North America. UN figures also show that 1.9 million babies were stillborn during 2021, more than three-quarters of 77 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
A woman's risk of having a stillborn baby in sub-Saharan Africa is seven times greater than women in Europe and North America.
Premature birth and complications during labor are the main causes of such deaths. Similarly, more than 40 percent of stillbirths occur during labor, “For children who survive past the first 28 days, diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria pose the greatest threat," the UN said.
"Every day, too many parents face the trauma of losing their children, sometimes even before their first breath," said Vidhya Ganesh, director of data analytics, planning, and monitoring at Unicef.
"Such widespread and preventable tragedies must not be accepted as inevitable."
On another side, the Director of the White Ribbon Alliance, Kristy Kade do campaign for the health, rights, and gender equality of women and girls, and said the figures are not surprising.
"We don't pay attention to women before they get pregnant. These numbers are the result of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. We will not improve without focusing on women." Kristy Kade stated.
She added that the chances of women, children, and babies surviving are greatly reduced as midwives and nurses leave health services around the world in droves due to low salaries.
"We can't make women survive if midwives can't survive. Midwives can solve many of the problems that kill mothers and babies." Explains Kristy.
While COVID-19 has not greatly affected child mortality, the pandemic may be increasing the risk of future survival, says the UN. The pandemic has triggered one of the largest sustained reversals in global vaccination coverage with tens of millions of children now vulnerable to preventable diseases.
