Pneumonia and Diarrhoeal Diseases Biggest Killers of Children Under 5: WHO

Doha, December 21 (QNA) - Pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases are the two biggest killers of children below five years old, according to the World Health Organisation's annual statistics report for 2011. Pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases accounted for 18% and 15% of all deaths respectively in 2008. These rates include deaths that occur during the neonatal period. The WHO African Region and the WHO South-East Asia Region experience the highest burden of mortality due to pneumonia and diarrhoea, and include numerous countries that are not on track to achieve the MDG 4 target of reducing child mortality by two-thirds. With 115 million children under five years underweight, global malnutrition is an another area of concern which is varying the progress towards the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the said the WHO report which is an annual compilation of data from its 193 member states. Undernutrition among children remains common in many parts of the world. According to recent estimates, 115 million children below the age of five worldwide are underweight. Although global prevalence is decreasing, progress is uneven. In Africa, the stagnation of prevalence coupled with population growth led to an increase in the number of underweight children - from 24 million in 1990 to 30 million in 2010. In Asia, the number of underweight children was estimated to be even larger at around 71 million in 2010. Around 178 million children globally are too short for their age group (stunted) compared to the WHO child growth standards, with such stunting being a key indicator of chronic malnutrition. As growth slows down, brain development lags behind and as a result stunted children are more likely to learn poorly. Stunting rates among children are highest in Africa and Asia Child mortality continues to decline worldwide. The total number of deaths of children below five years old fell from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009. The mortality rate in children under five years old has fallen correspondingly from 89 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 60 per 1000 live births in 2009, representing a reduction of about one third. The average annual rate of decline has accelerated over the period 2000 2009 compared with the 1990s.The level of mortality, however, remained alarmingly high in certain regions of the world. In 2009, the levels of mortality in children under five years old in the WHO African Region (127 per 1000 live births) and in low-income countries (117 per 1000 live births) were still higher than the 1990 global level of 89 per 1000 live births. Much more needs to be done to achieve the target of a two-thirds reduction in the 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015. In particular, efforts to reduce neonatal mortality rates (deaths during the first 28 days of life) need to be increased as the rates of decline are slower than those observed among older children. In 2009, 40% of all deaths among children under 5 years old occurred in the neonatal period. The coverage of crucial child health interventions against often fatal diseases remains inadequate. These interventions include oral rehydration therapy and zinc for diarrhoea, and case management with antibiotics for pneumonia. Most child deaths due to pneumonia could be avoided if effective interventions were implemented on a broad scale and reached the most vulnerable populations, the WHO said. (QNA)