The world is still falling short of the UN’s target of reducing preventable deaths to 25 per 1,000 births in under fives by 2030. Without urgent investment in children’s health, 59 countries will fall short of that goal, researchers warned.
Child deaths are mainly caused by premature births and preventable diseases and infections such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria.
The report reveals glaring global inequalities, with the sub-Saharan Africa region accounting for around half of all deaths of children under age five in 2022.
Children born in countries with high early childhood mortality, such as Chad or Somalia, are 80 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those born in countries with lower mortality rates, such as Finland and Singapore.
