Global Death Rates Decline Among Children and Adolescents

Worldwide, the deaths among children and adolescents decreased from 14.2 million deaths in 1990 to 7.2 million deaths in 2015. A new article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. states that this global progress has been uneven. //

The article by corresponding author Nicholas J. Kassebaum, M.D. of the University of Washington, Seattle, and his Global Burden of Disease Child and Adolescent Health Collaboration colleagues, describes mortality and nonfatal health outcomes among children and adolescents (19 years old and younger) in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015.

Around 20 Percent of Child Deaths in England can be Prevented: The Lancet
Child deaths have fallen to very low rates in all industrialised countries, but many deaths in children and adolescents are still potentially preventable, and much more could be done

‘Most deaths among children and adolescents were found to be in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.’

Tweet it Now

A composite indicator of income, education and fertility called a Sociodemographic Index (SDI) was developed for each geographic unit.

Included among the most common causes of death globally were neonatal preterm birth complications, lower respiratory tract infections, diarrheal deaths, congenital anomalies, malaria, neonatal sepsis, meningitis and HIV and AIDS, according to the report.

Countries with lower SDIs had a greater share of the burden of death in 2015 compared with 1990, while the most deaths among children and adolescents occurred in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

New Data Shows Sharp Decline in Maternal and Child Deaths Globally
Millions of lives have been saved globally since the start of an international effort to address maternal and child mortality in terms of data of two studies

The report speculates one reason for growing inequality of disease among children and adolescents may be that geographical areas with the lowest SDIs have historically not received significant development assistance for health.

Limitations of the study include variations in the availability and quality of data.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Open Global Summit on Preventable Child Deaths
The Call To Action Summit, a global meet for ending preventable child and maternal deaths, first hosted in the US in 2012, aims to end child deaths by 2035.

"Timely, robust and comprehensive assessment of disease burden among children and adolescents provides information that is essential to health policy decision making in countries at all points along the spectrum of economic development," the article concludes.

Global Progress on Reducing Child Deaths
Globally, four million fewer child deaths occurred in 2015 than in 2000, thanks to reductions in deaths from pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and measles.

Source-Eurekalert