Nigeria has taken over from India as the world capital for under-five
deaths, according to the 2020 mortality estimates released by United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The development comes two years earlier than the World Bank projected.
The
global bank had said in 2018 that Nigeria will take over India as the
world capital for deaths of children under the age of five by 2021.
According
to World Bank figures, India recorded an estimated 989,000 under-five
deaths in 2017, while Nigeria recorded 714,000 deaths in the same year.
UNICEF,
in the report titled Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, said Nigeria
recorded an estimated average of 858,000 under-five deaths in 2019 as
against India which ranked second with 824,000 deaths out of 5.2 million
under-five deaths globally.
The report, which covered a period
of three decades–1990 to 2019–added that 49 percent of all under-five
deaths in 2019 occurred in just five countries: Nigeria, India,
Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.
“Nigeria and India alone account for almost a third,” it said.
The
report said under-five mortality rates have declined by almost 60
percent since 1990. However, the UN expressed concerns that “the
potential of a mortality crisis in 2020 threatens years of remarkable
improvement in child and adolescent survival”.
“While the extent
and severity of the mortality impact of COVID-19 on children and youth
is still unknown, the potential of a mortality crisis in 2020 threatens
years of remarkable improvement in child and adolescent survival from
1990 to 2019, the period covered in this report,” it read.
“The
global under-five mortality rate declined by almost 60 per cent from 93
deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 38 deaths in 2019. Meanwhile,
mortality among adolescents aged 10–19 fell from 13 deaths per 1,000
adolescents aged 10 in 1990 to 8 deaths in 2019—a 39 per cent decrease.
“Even
with that progress, some 5.2 million children died before reaching
their fifth birthday in 2019 alone. Tragically, many of those children
died of preventable or treatable conditions.”
NIGERIA’S NEONATAL DEATHS UP BY 61,000 SINCE 1990
According
to the data in the report, Nigeria recorded 209,000 neonatal deaths in
1990– a 61,000 increase compared to 270,000 deaths in 2019.
The figures for number of deaths among children aged five to fourteen also increased from 104,000 in 1990 to 119,000 in 2019.
Nigeria’s
population has doubled since 1990, which means the percentage of
neonatal deaths in the country has reduced, but the absolute numbers are
higher.
53% OF UNDER-FIVE CHILD DEATHS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
The
report further said that while child deaths are uneven across regions,
the situation is worse in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern
Asia.
“In 2019, sub-Saharan Africa carried more than half of that
burden with 2.8 million under- five deaths (53 per cent), followed by
Central and Southern Asia with 1.5 million (28 per cent),” it read.
“The
regions of Australia and New Zealand, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia,
Northern Africa and Western Asia, Europe and Northern America, Latin
America and the Caribbean, and Oceania (excluding Australia and New
Zealand) account for the remaining 19 per cent of under-five deaths.
“Sub-Saharan
Africa also bears the brunt of deaths among children and young people
older than age 5, accounting for 44 per cent of deaths age 5–24.”
CHILD MORTALITY VS COVID-19
The
report added that while the pandemic has limited direct impact on child
mortality, countries worldwide are now experiencing disruptions in
child and maternal health services due to resource constraints and a
general uneasiness with using health services due to a fear of
contracting COVID-19.
“While current evidence indicates the
direct impact of COVID-19 on child and youth mortality is limited,
indirect effects stemming from strained and under-resourced health
systems; limitations on care-seeking and preventative measures like
vaccination and nutrition supplements; socioeconomic strain on parents
and households resulting from job loss or economic downturns; and stress
to children and parents associated with abrupt societal shifts may be
substantial and widespread, ” it read.
“Moreover, many of these
indirect effects may not be apparent for some time after the pandemic
recedes and may reverberate for an extended period following the
pandemic.
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF director, said: “The global
community has come too far towards eliminating preventable child deaths
to allow the COVID-19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks.
THE WAY TO GO
UNICEF
said: “If the child survival targets are to be met on time, resources
and policy must be geared toward not only sustaining current rates of
decline but also accelerating progress, which would save millions of
lives. If the trends from 2010 to 2019 continue, 53 countries will not
meet the SDG target on under-five mortality on time—if all countries
were to meet that target, 11 million under-five deaths would be averted
from 2020 to 2030.
“Achieving the child survival goals and
heading off a reversal of progress in child survival in 2020 will
require universal access to effective, high-quality and affordable care
and the continued, safe provision of life-saving interventions for
women, children, and young people.
“If all countries reach the
SDG child survival targets by 2030, 11 million lives under age 5 will be
saved—more than half of them in sub-Saharan
Africa.”
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