New york: The United Nations has expressed concern over the slow progress in reducing child mortality, highlighting that 4.9 million children still die annually before reaching their fifth birthday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, several UN agencies, under the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), issued a statement on Wednesday revealing new findings on child mortality. The report, which fully assesses the leading causes of under-five deaths for the first time, estimates that 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns.
The report emphasizes that many of these deaths could be prevented with proven, low-cost interventions and access to quality healthcare. It notes that global under-five deaths have decreased by more than half since 2000, yet the pace of reduction has slowed by more than 60 percent since 2015.
The report, titled ‘Level and Trends in Child Mortality,’ provides a comprehensive overview of child mortality rates and, for the first time, integrates estimates on the causes of death. It highlights that over 100,000 children aged 1-59 months died from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2024, with indirect effects of malnutrition exacerbating children’s vulnerability to common diseases.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell remarked, “No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent. However, we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing-especially amid global budget cuts.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus commented on the significant progress made while emphasizing the persistent threat from preventable causes. “Children living amid conflict and crisis are nearly three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday,” he stated.
Monique Vledder, World Bank Group Director, Health, described the findings as a call to action to speed up the implementation of scalable solutions. “The World Bank Group’s health target of reaching 1.5 billion people is our concrete commitment to accelerating access to quality primary health services,” she said.
The report also reveals that mortality data often fail to capture SAM as an underlying cause of death, suggesting a potential underestimation of the burden. Countries such as Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan report the highest numbers of direct deaths.
Complications from preterm birth, labor, and delivery are major causes of newborn deaths, while infectious diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia affect older children. Malaria remains the leading killer in this age group, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where conflict and other factors hinder prevention and treatment efforts.
The report underscores that child deaths are heavily concentrated in a few regions, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 58 percent of all under-five deaths in 2024. Fragile and conflict-affected countries bear a disproportionate burden, with children in these areas nearly three times more likely to die before reaching five years.
Furthermore, an estimated 2.1 million children, adolescents, and youth aged 5-24 died in 2024, with infectious diseases and injuries as leading causes. The risks shift in adolescence, with self-harm and road traffic injuries being significant threats.