Child dies every 5 secs

– An estimated 6.3 million children died before their 15th birthdays in 2017, or one every five seconds, according to report by the United Nations (UN).

Most, 5.4 million, occur in the first five years, with newborns accounting for about half, it said.

“With simple solutions, like medicines, clean water, electricity and vaccines”, this toll could be dramatically reduced, said Laurence Chandy, an expert with the UN children’s fund Unicef.

But without urgent action, 56 million children under five, half

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of them newborns, will die between now and 2030.

Globally, in 2017, half of all deaths in children under five were in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in 13 died before their fifth birthday. In high-income countries, that number was one in 185, according to the report co-led by Unicef, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank.

It found most children under five die due to treatable causes. In older children injuries become a more prominent cause of death. – Reuters