Millennium Development Goal Four

Target: Between 1990 and 2015, reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds.

• In 2007, over nine million children died before reaching their fifth birthday.
• Sub-Saharan Africa and much of Asia are not on track to reach their target of reducing under-five mortality by two thirds. In sub-Saharan Africa, close to one in seven children died before their fifth birthday in 2007.
• Between 1990 and 2007, under five mortality has decreased in Western Asia from 67 to 34 per 1,000 live births; and in Eastern Asia from 45 to 22 per 1,000 live births.
• 1.4 million children every year - and 3,900 children every day - die because they lack access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
• Pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases are the biggest killers of children under five, accounting for almost 40% of deaths.
• Although many countries in sub-Saharan Africa saw little or no decline in child mortality (and in some cases even saw increases), there have been some notable success stories, including Benin, Botswana, Cameroon and more recently Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
• Between 2000 and 2007, child deaths from measles declined by 74% globally, and by 89% in Africa.

• del.icio.usopens in a new window
• Diggopens in a new window
• facebookopens in a new window
• redditopens in a new window
• StumbleUponopens in a new window