Blog #5: Desiree Lambert, 9/28/12, 4:27PM, Young Children’s Deaths said to Drop Again in 2011

Young Children’s Deaths said to Drop Again in 2011

In 2011 there was said to be less than seven million children around the world that had dies before their fifth birthday due to disease and birth complications. This is a new low. There were about 12 million children in 1990 and 10 million in 2007 that died before their fifth birthday. Experts are saying that the pace in saving children’s lives is accelerating. More than half of the deaths occurred in India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and China. The Leading causes were pneumonia, premature birth, diarrhea, birth complications and malaria. The United Nations stated that majority of these deaths are preventable with cheap interventions.

This effects families globally and is a global issue that can be fixed and already is slowly heading that way. While it is great that the numbers of deaths of children under five have decreased overtime, this is still a problem. There are still seven million children dying and majority of the deaths could be prevented. Due to economics and poor education on how to prevent certain illnesses children continue to die. Two of the main causes for children dying are premature birth and birth complications that could be prevented if women had the education on how to take care of them while pregnant, had the resources to make sure that they and the baby get the proper medical care while the mother is pregnant and while the mother is in labor and delivering the baby.  According to Malaria.org, Pregnant women and infants and young children are at the greatest risk for Malaria. It also states that Malaria can be prevented by avoiding standing water, using Malaria nets, cutting long grass, clearing mosquito breeding ground, promote education and public awareness and use of Intermittent Prevention Therapy for pregnant women. Most of the time people do not have the education or finances to prevent Malaria. If we as a society can figure out how to educate families as well as help support families to make sure the leading causes of deaths are prevented then these numbers will continue to drop.

References: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/world/young-childrens-deaths-said-to-drop-again-in-2011.html

http://www.malaria.org/Malaria%20Basics%20Handout%20for%20Students.pdf