Levels and trends in child mortality: UN IGME

Context: According to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), more than 50 countries are unlikely to meet the ‘under-5 mortality target’ by 2030.
Note: Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

• SDG Target 3.2: New-born and child mortality: By 2030, end preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality and under-5 mortality.

Key highlights of the Report

• The world remains significantly off-track in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on ending the preventable deaths of newborns and children under five.
• We are still losing too many young lives from largely preventable causes, often because of weak and underfunded health systems which have faced enormous pressure over the pandemic. 

According to the report, more than 50 countries are unlikely to meet the 'under-5 mortality target' by 2030, and more than 60 countries will miss the neonatal mortality target without immediate action. 

• Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia continue to face the highest risk of child mortality.
• In low- and middle-income countries, huge data gaps remain – two thirds (97 out of 135 countries) have had no reliable mortality data in the past 3 years.

The UN IGME report states, more than 5 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2020 alone, along with 2.2 million children and youth aged 5 to 24.

• According to Sustainable Development Goal 3, Target 3.2, the UN calls for ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under age 5, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030.

About United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)
It was formed in 2004 to

• Share data on child mortality
• Improve methods for child mortality estimation
• Report on progress towards child survival goals
• Enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality.
• It is led by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
• It also includes the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division as full members.

Road Ahead

• According to the WHO, future investments in the Covid-19 response and global health should strengthen all elements of global healthcare infrastructure, including leaving a lasting impact on data and primary health systems to help end preventable child deaths.