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Of the 7.6 million deaths worldwide among children under 5 years ofage in 2010, 18% were caused by pneumonia, while 14% were theresult of a complication of a preterm birth, researchers from JohnsHopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an international teamof experts reported in The Lancet . The authors added that diarrhea is the third leading cause ofdeaths among very young children. The researchers analyzed data on the distribution of child deathsaround the world in 2010. They report that 40% of them were amonginfants under four weeks old (naonates). 64% of all the deaths werecaused by or attributable to an infectious cause. Even though total deaths among under 5s worldwide dropped from 2000to 2010, in order to reach the Millennium Development Goal, thedecline will need to be steeper, senior author Robert Black, MD,MPH, wrote. Dr. Black said: "The numbers are staggering. Of 7.6 million deaths globally inchildren younger than 5, 1.4 million or 18 percent were a result of pneumonia , 1.1 million or 14 percent were related to preterm birthcomplications and 0.8 million or 11 percent were a result of diarrhea. Despite tremendous efforts to identify relevant data, the causes ofonly 2.7 percent of deaths in children younger than 5 years weremedically certified in 2010. National health systems, as well asregistration and medical certification of deaths, need to bepromoted and strengthened to enable better accountability for thesurvival of children." The investigators divided death figures into children aged up to 27days and 1 to 59 months, and linked causes of deaths to individualcountry statistics. The number of deaths between 2000 and 2010 fell by over 2 million.At this rate of decline, a mortality reduction of two-thirdsbetween 1990 and 2015 - a Millennium Development Goal by the UnitedNations - will not be achieved. The following infectious disease-related deaths did fall enough toreach the goal by 2015: AIDS Measles Tetanus Malaria in Africa Below are some of their highlighted findings for deaths amongchildren aged up to 5 years in 2010: Total 7.6 million 4 879 million (64 0%) were caused by an infection orinfectious disease 3 072 million (40 3%) were aged up to 30 days 1 078 million (14.1%) were linked to preterm birth complications 0 717 million (9.4%) were caused by intrapartum-relatedcomplications The leading causes of deaths among neonates were sepsis/meningitis,0.939 (5.2%) The leading causes of deaths among older children were pneumonia(1.071 million, 14.1%), diarrhea (0.751 million, 9.9%), malaria(0.564 million, 7.4%) Lead author, Li Liu, PhD, MHS, said: "Pneumonia, measles and diarrhea contributed the most reductionbetween 2000 and 2010, however, the reduction was not significantenough to achieve Millennium Development Goal number 4. Among the 3leading causes of death from 2000-2010, diarrhea declined thefastest at 4 percent, followed by pneumonia at 3 percent andpreterm birth complications at only 2 percent. Child survival strategies should direct resources toward theleading causes of child mortality, with attention focusing oninfectious and neonatal causes." The authors added: "More rapid decreases from 2010-2015 will need acceleratedreduction for the most common causes of death, notably pneumoniaand preterm birth complications. Continued efforts to gatherhigh-quality data and enhance estimation methods are essential forthe improvement of future estimates." Written by Christian Nordqvist Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Canvas Printing Service Manufacturer , Bus Wraps, and more. For more , please visit Bus Wraps today!
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