Three-quarters of child deaths due to diseases that can be cured

Nearly three-quarters of child deaths each year are deplored the fact that six diseases that can be prevented, however, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
"The new estimates show that worldwide, more than 7 out of 10 deaths among the 10.6 million annual deaths occurring in children under 5 years are attributable to six causes, and four categories of communicable diseases are for more than half of all child deaths, "said Robert Black, School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Baltimore.

Pneumonia accounts for 19% of deaths among children under 5 years, followed by diarrhea (18%), preterm delivery (10%), bacteremia (blood infection) (10%), malaria ( 8%) and anoxia (oxygen deprivation at birth) (8%).

These estimates are based on data from scientific publications and studies that reported the "Lancet".

Pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea and measles, four diseases that are preventable and treatable, are responsible for nearly half of all deaths. Neonatal tetanus and HIV / AIDS are also responsible for a small proportion of infant mortality.

More importantly, under-nutrition appears as underlying cause in more than half of these deaths.

The African continent pays by far the greatest burden, with 42% of infant deaths in the world, followed by the Southeast Asia is that 29% of deaths concentrated area.

If the profiles of causes of infant deaths vary considerably from one region to another of the six defined by WHO, the fact remains that the four killers are the same for all six regions, except malaria strikes mostly African children, say the authors.

The latter therefore believe that the reduction of child mortality by two thirds compared to 1990 levels, a goal that has set itself WHO depend on renewed efforts to prevent and control pneumonia, diarrhea and undernutrition in all WHO regions, and malaria in Africa. They also recommend to address neonatal mortality, mainly due to prematurity, septic shock and pneumonia, as well as anoxia.