Reasons of death among children under the age of 5

Unfortunately, when we take a look at the statistics related to child mortality in the early ages of life, we can easily see that too many of them have lost their lives due to some preventable causes.

The data from the World Health Organization website shows us that just in 2020, when the pandemic started, more than 5 million children lost their lives from preventable causes and treatable diseases.

The sad fact is that almost half of those children died as newborns, in the first 28 days of their life. There were 2.4 million infant deaths. WHO also shows us that there are 37 birth deaths per 1000 live births. The sub-Saharan area of the planet has an even higher risk, where there were 74 deaths per 1000 live births.

It is not hard to come to the conclusion that under-developed countries and poor social status bring more harm to families, especially children. 

Leading causes of death among children under the age of 5 were related to complications coming from preterm birth, trauma, pneumonia, and other lung issues, or malaria.

When we compare these data to those that were taken in 1990, there can be seen progress, at least a small one. The total number of deaths among children under the age of 5 has declined from 1990 to today, from 12.6 million to 5 million.

Still, there are many countries that count too many children's deaths, especially those under the age of five.

Countries with the highest numbers of deaths include Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Congo, Ethiopia, China, Indonesia, Tanzania, Angola, and Bangladesh. 

Women who have good pregnancy care, can provide their children with medical help, and use vaccination as prevention of various diseases have better outcomes for their babies, and overall their entire family's health.

Malnutrition is another problem - children who are hungry or starving have a higher chance of developing and dying from the complications and diseases we already mentioned in this article.