Unicef hails child mortality decline

Unicef says it is pleased with the child mortality decline

The UN Children's Fund has hailed the worldwide decline in child mortality, but says complacency should be avoided and all stakeholders should continue to reduce the figures still further. A Unicef report was released yesterday.

It shows that the global death rate for children under the age of five has declined by 23% in 1990 to just under ten-million last year. Sub-Saharan Africa's Unicef spokesperson Sarah Crowe, says access to medication and keeping up with millenium goals will keep the child mortality even lower.

"We must not let go of continuing to try to achieve the Millennium Development Goals throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. More mothers need to be accessing prevention of mother-to-child transmission. They need to be receiving better information and anti-retrovirals right throughout their pregancies, throughout the time of giving birth, because HIV/Aids is the biggest killer of children in this part of the world," she said.