Dhaka on track to meet target of reducing child deaths

The Unicef said that while 90 countries, including Bangladesh, are on track to meet the target of reducing child deaths by two-thirds by 2015, 98 countries are considerably off track, and globally the pace of progress is far too slow.

"A child's right to survive is the first measure of equality, possibility, and freedom," Unicef Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, launching the report, Progress for Children, in New York on Thursday, said a Unicef press release.

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One of the world's largest child populations lives in South Asia.

Bangladesh, with lower rates of child mortality than both India and Pakistan, is on track to meet the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five years of age.

On Bangladesh's situation, Morten Giersing, Unicef Representative in Dhaka, said: "Recent mortality surveys indicate that an estimated 250,000 children still die each year, out of which 90,000 newborns die before they reach their 29th day of life, 61,000 children die due to ARI, and 30,000 children die due to injuries, particularly drowning, which is the leading cause of deaths in the 1-4 year age group."

Giersing added: "Unicef's future child survival support is prioritised for improvement in peri-natal and neo-natal health services, prevention of child injuries and accidents, and improvement in control of major killers such as ARI, diarrhoea and vaccine preventable diseases."

"Unicef will also continue to provide its support to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and micro-nutrient supplementation."

The Progress for Children report makes clear that those countries that have fallen short on progress since 1990 now have a much more daunting task.

At least 39 countries must now reduce mortality by more than 8 percent a year, on average, during the remaining years to 2015 in order to reach the goal.

Child mortality rates vary considerably among regions and countries, but the most disturbing findings are those countries whose annual rate of progress has been negative; in other words, they are heading in reverse, with rising child mortality rates.

In several countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States, children are less likely to make it to their fifth birthdays than they were in 1990.

HIV/Aids remains one of the chief underlying causes affecting child mortality trends, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, which registered the second, third and fourth fastest increases in under-five deaths, also have the world's highest national HIV prevalence rates - about 37, 25 and 39 percent respectively.