Zimbabwe child mortality up 20 percent, UN says

	Tweet

Zimbabwe’s infant mortality rate has risen by 20 percent over the past two decades as children younger than five succumb to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and pneumonia, a joint government and United Nations survey showed on Tuesday.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday a survey it carried with Zimbabwe’s government in May this year showed the number of children dying under the age of five had risen by 20 percent since 1990, the baseline year for the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

However, UNICEF had said in a March 2005 report that the under-5 mortality rate rose 50 percent between 1990-2005 to 1 death in every 8 births, suggesting that the mortality rate is now increasing at a slower pace than before.

The latest report showed that between 2005-2009, 94 children out of every 1,000 newly born children died before reaching the age of five, up from 82 deaths in 2005.

“Major causes of death of children under five are HIV/AIDS, newborn disorders, pneumonia and diarrhoea,” it said.

Half of women in Zimbabwe’s poor rural areas were also giving birth at home, with high hospital fees proving a barrier to women accessing obstetric services.

Zimbabwe’s economic woes have destroyed the public health system, a factor highlighted by last year’s cholera outbreak which killed nearly 5,000 people.

On Tuesday the official Herald newspaper reported that six suspected cholera cases had been recorded in the past week in a poor township in the capital Harare, whose authorities are struggling to supply clean water to residents.

---
* Deaths due to HIV/AIDS, pneumonia

* Half of rural women give birth at home

HARARE (Reuters)

RELATED STORIES:
Iowa governor signs toughest U.S. anti-meth law   EU states overruled on GMOs by own deadlock   Special report: The cost of a malaria-free world   U.S. looks north for vaccine system   Chronic disease to cost $47 trillion by 2030: WEF   Two in three believe radiation from phones damaged their health   Unequal access drives fertility tourism, experts say   Most U.S. malaria deaths could have been prevented   Is your dating partner happy?   State finds abuse at Gooding nursing home   Nurse suspended after patient dies at South LA hospital   Lifestyle may explain much of drop in heart deaths

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]