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Coronavirus pandemic is jeopardizing decades of work to reduce preventable child deaths, new report says

2020-09-09T13:36:15.180Z


A new report from the UN and the World Bank says that the coronavirus pandemic threatens to undermine gains in reducing deaths among children and young adolescents, putting my ...


How are infections and mortality in children?

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(CNN) -

Preventable deaths in children under the age of 5 were at the lowest number on record in 2019, at just over 5 million, down from 12.5 million in 1990, according to a new United Nations report. and the World Bank, published this Tuesday.

But the coronavirus pandemic threatens to undermine achievements in reducing deaths among children and young adolescents, putting millions of lives at risk, according to the 2019 Levels and Trends in Infant Mortality report, published by UNICEF, the World Organization of Health, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank.

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"We must not allow the covid-19 pandemic to set back remarkable progress for our children and future generations," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Recent surveys by UNICEF and the WHO have found that the pandemic is disrupting maternal and child health services around the world, including prenatal and postnatal care, vaccinations and check-ups due to fewer resources and fear of contracting covid-19.

"The global community has gone too far in eliminating preventable child deaths to allow the COVID-19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a press release.

“When children are denied access to health services because the system is invaded, and when women are afraid to give birth in hospital for fear of infection, they too can become victims of covid-19 Fore said.

"Without urgent investments to restart interrupted health systems and services, millions of children under the age of five, especially newborns, could die," he added.

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Of 77 countries surveyed by Unicef ​​during the summer, 68% reported interruptions in child checks and vaccines.

A WHO survey of 105 countries also found that 52% reported interruptions in medical services for sick children and 51% reported interruptions in malnutrition programs.

These kinds of services are critical to preventing newborn and child deaths, the WHO said, citing a statistic that pregnant women who see midwives are 16% less likely to lose their babies and 24% less likely. of experiencing preterm labor.

"The covid-19 pandemic has seriously jeopardized years of global progress to end preventable child deaths," Muhammad Ali Pate, the World Bank's Global Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, said in a statement.

"It is essential to protect the life-saving services that have been key to reducing infant mortality."

Newborns had the highest risk of death, even before the coronavirus pandemic: In 2019, a baby died every 13 seconds, according to the Unicef ​​mortality report.

They could be at a much higher risk of death from coronavirus-related disruptions to essential health services, according to the WHO.

Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the pandemic since the beginning, said the models showed that interruptions in health care due to COVID-19 could cause the death of nearly 6,000 more children each day.

Although progress is being made in infant deaths, the UNICEF mortality report also predicts that if current trends continue, 10 million children, ages 5 to 14, and 52 million children, under 5 years of age, will still die between 2019 and 2030.

“Nearly half of these under-five deaths will be newborns whose deaths could be prevented by providing high-quality [prenatal] care, birth care and care, postnatal care for mothers and their babies, and care for young newborns and sick, "said the report.

"Reducing inequalities is critical to ending these preventable child deaths and to ensuring that no child is left behind," the UNICEF report concluded.

covid-19 children UNICEF

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-09-09

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