In 2008, nearly 9 million children died, most of them in the developing part of the world. Three out of four child deaths happened before the age of five. Nearly all of them occurred in 18 countries, out of which approximately half in five: India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, China and Niger. Every one in third deaths occurred either in India or Niger. 40 % of the child deaths under the age of five happen in the neonatal phase, during the first month after being born. 26 % of the neonatal deaths occur due to infections, such as pneumonia or sepsis. Out of the deaths before age of five, 17 % occur because of diarrheal related diseases and 15 % due to malaria, HIV/AIDS or measles.                                                        

During the same year 2008, 358 000 maternal deaths happened. Maternal deaths are caused by complications during either pregnancy or delivery. Only 1 % out of maternal deaths happens in developed countries, while 99 % occur in the developing part of the world. One mother in every 13 dies in developing countries, while in Northern Europe the number is one out of every 3 900 mothers. Moreover, 87 % of the deaths take place in either Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. The main cause is haemorrhage, while other includes sepsis, protracted or some how aggravated delivery, disorders caused by elevated blood pressure during pregnancy or unsafe abortion. Generic cause is lack of skilled personnel, equipment and medication while any of aforesaid occurs. In the Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 50 % of the maternal deaths are caused by the lack of good emergency service during delivery. Genital mutilation is a traditional procedure in some of the developing countries performed on girls who are between infancy and 15 years old. This violation of human rights causes complications during delivery and deaths of newborn babies. 100-140 million women are living with genital mutilation today.

 

What other causes are there that results in such high numbers of child and maternal deaths in the developing countries?

Lack of services, technology and information, interaction of conditions, diseases and nutrition affect both the child and maternal deaths. 30 % of the child deaths are nutrition related, while lack of clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene cause diarrheal diseases but also increase under-five mortality caused by pneumonia, neonatal disorders and malnutrition.

Poverty is once again a huge factor in this issue as well. An uneducated poor in the rural area are more susceptible to maternal and child deaths. Moreover, an adolescent mother has twice as big of a risk to maternal death.

AIDS orphans have been a growing group of children left behind after the epidemic. These orphans face lack of looking after, deficit immunisation, poor nutrition and education and are more vulnerable to other diseases, such as malaria. Bad sanitation causes diarrheal diseases, intestinal infections and cholera.

Also about 2 million children died during the last decade due to bad nutrition and diseases caused by armed conflicts. Populations are displaced to unhygienic conditions, with no food and no health care, which causes epidemics and diarrheal diseases. Natural disasters and environmental mismanagement are other causes to increased number of child deaths. E.g. floods in Pakistan are a combination of these too, since the environment had been shaped by humans and therefore made it more vulnerable during a natural disaster.

An interesting fact is that more baby boys than girls die- except in India, China, Pakistan and Nepal. In China girls have actually 33 % bigger risk of dying, since boys are more often taken to medical care than girls. However, girls survive better than boys during the first year after being born, but tables are turned during the years 1-5. During the first year girls do better due to genetics, parental care and breast feeding but there after girls are more discriminated.

 

References:

Childinfo 2008. Monitoring the situation of children and women. UNICEF

UNICEF 2008. Why are millions of children and women dying?

WHO 2008. Fact sheets. Female Genital Mutilation.

WHO 2008. What are the key health dangers for children?

WHO 2008. 10 Facts on maternal health.

Maitra, P. & Gangadharan, L. 2000. Does Child Mortality Reflect Gender Bias? Evidence from Pakistan. University of Melbourne.

http://www.who.int/whr/2003/chapter1/en/index2.html