Dear CHIFA colleagues,
Please can anyone help us to update our CHIFA leaflet? [ https://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/other_publications_uploads/CHIF... ] We are particularly interested to update the following statement from WHO:
“5.9 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015. More than half of these early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions”
World Health Organization, January, 2016
We have checked for updated statistics and UNICEF states in their latest mortality report (2024):
'In 2023, an estimated 4.8 million children died before the age of five, including 2.3 million newborns. These deaths are not inevitable. They are the result of unequal access to health care, nutrition, and protection, especially in the most fragile and underserved settings.'
https://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality-2...
The UNICEF report does not repeat WHO’s assertion that ‘More than half of these early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions’ but (from a quick read) they don’t refute the assertion either.
Can anyone say whether WHO's assertion still stands?
Many thanks, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org