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UNICEF’s
most recent report on the state of the World’s Children
2006
In 2006, for the first time in recent history, the total number
of annual deaths among children under the age of five fell
below 10 million, to 9.7 million, says UNICEF Executive Director,
Anne Weneman in this report. This represents a 60 per cent
drop in the rate of child mortality since 1960.
However, there is no room for complacency. According to her,
the loss of 9.7 million young lives each year is unacceptable,
especially when many of these deaths are preventable. And
despite progress, the world is not yet on track to achieve
the Millennium Development Goal target of a two-thirds reduction
in the rate of child mortality by 2015.
Child mortality is a sensitive indicator of a country’s
development and telling evidence of its priorities and values.
Investing in the health of children and their mothers is not
only a human rights imperative, it is a sound economic decision
and one of the surest ways for a country to set its course
towards a better future.
Sri Lanka ranks 135 in a list of 189 countries with a mortality
rate of 13 deaths for a 1000 children under the age of five.
Sierra Leone ranks one with a mortality rate of 270 deaths
per 1000 children.
Even though the African continent is more frequently associated
with the image of an under nutritioned child, it’s the
South Asian continent that has the highest percentage of malnutritioned
children under the age of five. 42% of children in south Asia
under the age of five are severely or moderately underweight
while the figure is 28% in Sub Saharan Africa.
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