Much progress

Child mortality has fallen significantly

According to the UN Children's Fund UNICEF, more children worldwide are surviving than ever before. Many preventable causes of death have been successfully reduced.

(Bild: AFP )

According to the UN Children's Fund UNICEF, more children worldwide are surviving than ever before. Since 2000, the mortality rate for children under the age of five has fallen by 51 percent. In 2022, the number of children who died from preventable causes before their fifth birthday is estimated to have reached a historic low of 4.9 million children. In 1990 it was still 12.5 million.

According to the data, most of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in 2022.

They were primarily due to preventable causes or treatable diseases such as premature births, complications during childbirth, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases and malaria.

A man in Rwanda distributes food to hungry children.

(Bild: AFP)

Basic medical care saves lives
"Many lives could have been saved if the children had had better access to basic medical care," UNICEF said in a statement. This includes measures such as vaccinations, qualified health personnel and the diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases.

Where a child is born should not determine whether it will live or die.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

"It is crucial to improve access to quality health care for every woman and every child, including in crisis situations and remote areas," the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is quoted as saying in the communication. "Where a child is born should not determine whether it will live or die."