Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes, experts have said.: e: u- L- ^6 N
A US team, writing in the Lancet, looked at mortality figures from 2010.1 l) `( e; `4 q+ s
They found two-thirds of the 7.6m children who died before their fifth birthday did so due to infectious causes - and pneumonia was found to be the leading cause of death.2 C2 F) ?: c+ x9 Y0 G
One expert said it was very important to "translate such findings into action".: [7 v5 n5 e ]" l3 p" t3 c% `
The team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health looked at data from a range of sources, including household surveys and registration systems for 193 countries. Mathematical modelling was used where data was incomplete.
& d7 O \9 g/ x0 F1 KThey found child deaths had fallen by two million (26%) since 2000, and there have been significant reductions in leading causes of death including diarrhoea and measles - as well as pneumonia.
9 N; v' X* m6 _3 DBut they say there are still significant challenges.
9 Q w) P$ U% PInternational targets
- H6 @/ I+ y8 [4 E+ ZHalf of child deaths occurred in Africa - two thirds (2.6m) were due to infectious causes, including malaria and Aids. ! z5 @; b% m% _4 i; W; o
In South East Asia, neonatal causes were the leading cause of death.- I1 |" @9 E9 P3 X7 y) l
Five countries (India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and China) accounted for almost half (3.75m) of deaths in children under five.# x C/ a7 J5 {& m% \
The researchers warn that very few countries will achieve international targets for improving child survival - the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 - by the 2015 deadline.0 L6 T! I- y1 P+ H9 h0 }! V9 r
Only tetanus, measles, and HIV/Aids have fallen enough to meet the target.; ] E" P7 m' I- w
Writing in the Lancet, the researchers say: "Across all the previous and current rounds of causes of childhood death estimation, pneumonia and pre-term birth complications consistently rank as the leading causes at the global level.
5 _6 E9 `; {" V6 |- ^3 Y: a) N9 Y"Africa and South East Asia are repeatedly the regions with the most deaths in children younger than five years. 4 x; n: Z# K! d$ t
"Our trend analysis shows that accelerated reductions are needed in the two major causes and in the two high-burden regions to achieve MDG4 by 2015."( V# v n8 i9 Y- C& W
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