A study carried out by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation has shown that over one million Nigerians below the age of 24 died in 2020 as a result of healthcare challenges in the country.
This was contained in a new 2021 report titled, ‘Levels & Trends in Child Mortality.
TOS News understands that the UN IGME provides yearly estimates of child and young adolescent mortality with data from the United Nations Children’s Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organisation, and the United Nations Population Division.
The estimates show that in 2020, an average of 844,000 children under the age of five died; 120,000 children between the ages of five and 14 died; and 75,000 persons between the ages of 15 and 24 died.
The report further revealed that these deaths were likely consequences of strained and under-resourced health systems, restrictions in care-seeking and preventive measures, and socio-economic challenges.
The report report partly read, “These deaths could stem from the repercussions of strained and under-resourced health systems, limitations on care-seeking and preventative measures like vaccination and nutrition supplements, or socio-economic strains on households resulting from job losses, economic contractions or even deaths of parents due to COVID-19.”
The report further stated that geographic and economic discrepancies alongside fragile and conflict-affected circumstances increased the risk of death for children, threatening the universal achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
It stated, “Geographic and economic disparities, along with fragile and conflict-affected situations, heighten the risk of death for children and threaten universal achievement of the SDGs.
“Of the 54 countries off track to meet the SDG target on under-five mortality, nearly 75 per cent (40) are in sub-Saharan Africa, 85 per cent (46) are classified as low-or lower-middle[1]income countries, and about half are classified as fragile and conflict-affected situations.
“For the neonatal mortality target, 70 per cent of the countries at risk of missing the target are in sub[1]Saharan Africa, 84 per cent (51) are low- or lower[1]middle-income, and 39 per cent are classified as fragile and conflict-affected situations,” the report read.
The report also stated that children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia continued to encounter the highest risk of death and face the challenge of child mortality.
It read in part, “Even without COVID-19-related mortality adjustments, the death toll is still staggering: More than five million children died before turning five in 2020 alone. Tragically, much of this loss of life could have been prevented.
“These deaths are not carried equally around the world – children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia continue to face the highest risk of death and to bear the brunt of the child mortality burden.
“As the world attempts to vaccinate widely to reduce preventable deaths due to covid-19, it is also time to remember and renew our commitment to ending all preventable child deaths that devastate millions of families year after year.”
